Home sweet home
by BMIK
Summary: Fathering four pubescend boys isn't exactly a piece of cake, and Vincent has to learn that the hard way.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there... During christmas I was a bit bored and wrote a mini-fic. Hope you like it ^^**

**Many many thanks to Chephren for the wonderful betaing!**

Disclaimer: Don´t own.

* * *

Chapter 1

"What do you have to say about this?"

The deep, sharp voice boomed through the dimly lit living room of a beautiful suburban house with a red roof, green windows and lots of colourful flowers on the front garden. Right now, the atmosphere seeping through the dark, little house was neither beautiful nor colourful. It was rather dark and choking.

Vincent´s eyes coolly sized up his two boys sitting on the couch in front of him. His voice was brimming with withheld agitation, with disappointment and a fair amount of shock.

Sephiroth just kept wordlessly staring at his father, eyes narrowed, almost angry it seemed, but he obviously refused to answer. Yazoo furtively threw his older brother a quick glance to see how he was faring and kept expressionlessly quiet as well, but instead of facing Vincent head-on, he lowered his gaze to the carpet.

"What, cat got your tongue?" their father snapped, hands balling into fists, before he couldn´t help himself anymore and shouted, eyes furious „Answer me!"

Yazoo flinched, but kept staring down with his head tilted. Sephiroth pressed his mouth into a thin line, eyes narrowing further, but he held his father´s fretful gaze.

Lucrecia stood beside the chair Vincent was sitting in, watching them. She seemed just as much at a loss of what to do as her husband, if her nervous, shaking movements and distraught, pale face gave any indication, but she laid a trembling hand on his shoulder nonetheless, trying to calm him down.

They had raised their children for 16, and respectively 14 years now, and they thought they had done a pretty good job, until they came home tonight earlier from their play and found the two of them in Sephiroth´s room...

"_Have you ever seen something so awful?"_ _she laughed, as she re-adjusted the red scarf over her bare shoulders the dress left naked, and silently opened the door._

"_Hardly, but what else did you expect from a 'Modern Interpretation of Loveless'?" Vincent snorted, the corners of his lips quirking up into an ironic smile as he followed his wife into the dark house._

_She chuckled, placing the keys onto the living room table and went to the kitchen to see if the boys had eaten the meal she had prepared for them before she and her husband had left. The very unstable looking tower of dirty dishes piling up in the sink at least told her wryly that they had enjoyed their spaghetti indeed._

"_I´m sure they just meant well. It was sweet of them to get us the tickets so we could have a night out, wasn´t it? Maybe we´re just too old..."_

"_Maybe we really are," Vincent muttered with a frown, wondering how much younger than 33 one had to be to be able to endure the three and a half hour whining on stage. He pulled her into an embrace from behind, kissing her cheek. She was right though, it had been a nice gesture of their kids to get the tickets so they could spend a nice evening out together. With four pubescending boys (Kadaj was still a bit away from puberty, but it didn´t deter him from throwing redfaced fits nonetheless, so he could very well be counted into this category as well) there surely wasn´t much alone time for the two of them..._

_Lucrecia smiled, turning her head towards her husband and purring, "Then lets just get some red wine and watch a nice movie on the couch like old people. But first, let me just quickly check on the boys."_

"_Sounds like a very good idea, I´ll get the anti-rheumatic blankets," the man hummed, and let his hand be taken, as they silently made their way up to the first floor where the boys´ rooms lay all on the left side._

_Kadaj was lying in a mess of sheets and limbs and toys, evenly breathing with his stuffed elephant in his arm. Lucrecia took a moment to sit on his bed and pull the blanket back over his exposed belly. Kadaj just sighed and drew Benjamin (as he had dubbed the elephant) closer. She would have to tell him tomorrow to clean his room, since it was nearly impossible to find a spot to walk on the floor that was littered with Lego bricks, toy soldiers and some unidentifiable stuff with which Kadaj had 'tinkered.' With another charmed smile, Lucrecia stroked over the boy´s messy hair and then went back to her husband, who leaned in the door frame._

_Opposite Kadaj was Loz´ room, who -upon quietly opening the door- snored at them rather noisily, drawing an amused smile from the two. His room didn´t look much different from his little brother´s , just that the stuff that was lying on the floor were not toys but piles of clothes, motorcycle magazines and the one or other piece of machinery. A faint smell of gasoline swept out of the dark room, making Lucrecia wrinkle her nose a bit. If Loz hadn´t been so talented with repairing stuff, she would have put a stop to his obsession long ago, but as it turned out, Vincent´s fingers were all thumbs when it came to repairing the gutter, or the vaccum cleaner..._

_Quietly they went down the corridor into Yazoo´s room, just to find the bed empty. It did look untouched as well, but the majority of his room did. Their second youngest didn´t own much at first sight, it seemed; apart from the immaculately made bed, a desk and a shelf with carefully arranged discs there wasn´t much. Well, and the computer sitting at his desk. Lucrecia had no idea what he did in front of it all day, but he looked busy, absorbed and happy, so she let him be. "Maybe he´s still with Seph," Lucrecia whispered, as she closed the door. _

"_I told him to go to bed at 9," Vincent frowned, looking at his watch where it was clearly half past nine. _

_She just lay a hand on his broad chest. "Don´t be so strict with them, dear, it´s Friday."_

_He sighed, after a moment, kissing her forehead "You are right," he muttered. "But I´ll still have a word with them about it tomorrow. I didn´t go through all the hardship of raising them properly so that Sephiroth can undermine my authority behind my back now. How does that make me look..."_

"_Like the bad guy?" she offered._

"_Exactly," he agreed, slightly incredulous._

_Lucrecia just smiled, finding it quite adorable when her husband tried to play the strict, authoritative father with principles when secretly, he had spoiled them even more than she did._

"_You should be glad that they get along so well, you know. That´s not a given, and actually, I am quite happy that we are spared all the fighting." Lucrecia pointed out with a lifted brow, as she tiptoed towards her oldest´s room at the end of the corridor. Not that the boys didn´t have fights, of course they had, but they were rare and short, albeit intense. Usually however, they got along rather well. Kadaj´s antics were endured with a stoic patience Lucrecia sometimes wished she had herself. They took responsibility and looked out for each other, and the lack of testosterone-driven sibling rivalry might have also stemmed from the fact that all of them partook in some kind of bodily exercise. They all did the one or other form of martial arts that gave them enough opportunity to vent their energy and anger on, so they kept it out of the house and away from the family._

"_Good point," Vincent muttered, startling her out of her reverie. Before Sephiroth´s door, she stepped aside to give Vincent the advantage, since he had declared that he´d be dealing with it. There was a soft light shining from underneath the door into the corridor, indicating that the boys were still up. At least they were quiet so they wouldn´t disturb their brothers' sleep, Vincent noticed with satisfaction and a bit of pride. He truly did love his family, they were everything he lived and worked for and they filled him with an all-encompassing bubling happiness and pride he had never thought possible. Of course, it wasn´t always all sunshine and rainbows, there were problems and trouble as well every now and then, like in every family. Discussions about bed-time extensions, pocket money, what TV program should be watched – the usual stuff. But his boys were good at school, had nice, polite friends and were ambitious and well-behaved._

_With a last, mockingly despaired look that was answered by a soft amused push, Vincent pressed the door handle down, poking his head inside and rose his brow as he said wryly into the room,_

"_Good evening boys, your mother and I are back earlier and it is way past your bedti-"_

_He abruptly stopped, his jaw slacking an eyes widening at the sight before him. Behind him, Lucrecia shrieked and jumped in surprise, clasping her hand before her mouth._

_Sephiroth and Yazoo looked back at him from the bed, just as surprised and shocked, but at least the older had the presence of mind to quickly draw the blanket around their naked bodies._

"_What. The. Hell?!" Vincent stepped into the room, opening the door fully now, still staring incredulously at his two children, their faces flushed, their skin sweaty. Yazoo was lying on his back, legs wrapped around his brother who loomed over him, but was sitting up now as he wordlessly looked back at their father._

"_This is not what you think-" he started, but was silenced as Vincent grabbed a bottle of lube from the nightstand and a package of condoms, eyes widening even more, brows knitting._

"_And what is this then?!" He threw the bottle at the two of them, feeling numb and sick and totally overwhelmed. Was this for real?! It felt like a really, really bad nightmare, and he wasn´t sure what he was doing, or what he was supposed to say or how to react. He was freezing and burning up at the same time and he stood there in the room, feeling utterly helpless and lost. Lost for words, lost for a way of how to react..._

_Lucrecia had pressed a hand before her mouth, but she caught herself faster than her husband and children did._

"_Vincent..." she said hoarsely, grabbing his arm, but he pushed her away. Tears were running down her face unnoticed, and she wiped them away, turning towards her two boys, saying in a flat, but more steady tone, "Get dressed. We´ll await you downstairs, you have five minutes."_

_Then she pulled her petrified husband out of the room, giving them a moment to acclimate and get dressed._

And here they were now, in the almost dark living room, with the old grandfather clock ticking loudly and nerve-wrackingly. As if they weren´t on edge already...

Yazoo was dressed in a fluffy blue robe that actually belonged to Sephiroth and was too big for him. His hair was still disheveled, and a red hickey was mockingly winking at them from his exposed white neck. Lucrecia would have given far more than two pennies for his thoughts right now, but he avoided her gaze, and seemed just as impassive and quiet as he always did. He´d never been much of a talker, never prying for attention. He left the stage to his brothers, usually quietly watching from the background, keeping his thoughts to himself. A dreamer he was, a thoughtful child that would have faded in the presence of his brothers if it wasn´t for his exceptional beauty. Despite his frail appearance however, he knew what he wanted and how to get it and was not above getting smug or snappy when he felt like it. Right now, however, he only looked uncomfortable and maybe a bit contrite.

Sephiroth looked just as regal and noble as always. He was strong-willed and maybe even a bit arrogant, but in a calm, level-headed way. Always rational but polite and that was what made him quite popular. Now, however, he looked almost stubborn and very distanced. Maybe he didn´t know what to say this time, how to rationalise or explain what he and Yazoo had been doing. Also he struck Lucrecia to be a bit truculent at the moment. Actually, he looked pretty much like Vincent right now.

"How long has this been going on? Was this the first time?" Vincent kept questioning, his jaw clenched, his shoulders tense.

The boys remained silent. Lucrecia suspected that Yazoo was just following Sephiroth's example, leaving it to his brother to deal with this mess.

Tiredly, she massaged her temple. "This isn´t going anywhere. Maybe we should just go to bed for today and talk about this tomorrow." She shook her head. "I am very disappointed in you."

Vincent didn´t object, he was busy keeping up his staring contest with his oldest son. "Get out of my sight," he bitterly ordered after a moment of tense silence, and synchronously, the two stood up to leave. "And go to your own rooms. I will come check on you," their father growled as an after thought, watching the two of them leaving the room and going upstairs.

Miserable, Vincent sank back in his chair, covering his eyes. Lucrecia sat down on the armrest, drawing him into a weak embrace and so they sat for at least ten minutes before Vincent got up as well to make sure that their wasn´t anymore incest going on under his roof.

*

Sephiroth´s eyes quickly flickered towards the stairs to make sure that they weren´t followed immediately, before he turned towards Yazoo, who was leaning against the door of his room, arms crossed over his chest, giving the general impression of resignation. The elder reached out to slowly stroke over his cheek down to his angular chin, the smaller boy closing his huge eyes and leaning into the touch.

"It´ll be all right." It sounded very confident and definite, like everything Sephiroth said. There was no remorse, regret or guilt in his voice, just grim determination, and it did put Yazoo´s worries to rest, at least for a bit. His brother would take care of this, he always did. "Go to bed now. Don´t tell them anything. I will sort this out."

An intense, ordering look followed, and the younger just nodded, withdrawing and turning to go into his room.

Sephiroth remained before the closed door for another moment, before he turned as well.

"What´s going on?" Loz sleepily poked his head into the corridor, but his brother sent him back with a "Nothing. Go back to sleep," and Loz tiredly obliged, frowning though. Sephiroth looked kind of stressed... Then he just shrugged it off, however, yawning and shuffling back to bed.

The eldest went to his room as well, leaning against the door with closed eyes for a moment, before he pushed himself up again to change the bedsheets.

He hadn´t laid down for more than two minutes when he heard the door open again, but since he faced the wall, he couldn´t see if it was his mother or father. He just pulled the blanket closer over his shoulder and after a moment, the door closed again.

tbc?

* * *

**So what do you think? Worth continuing?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okies, so you convinced me to post another chapter, thank you for all the reviews! *hands out flower shaped cookies***

**Let me quickly take the time to bow down before my awesome beta Chephren and then:**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

2

The next morning Kadaj came to the breakfast table, Benjamin dragging behind him, falling with soft sounds down stair after stair.

The sun was shining through the large windows into the warm house, and despite the early time, it was heating up again. The heavy, sweet smell of mums came through the open patio door, mingling with the delicious odors dancing into the corridor from the kitchen. The cluttering of plates could be heard, as well as the distant noises of singing birds and bicycles down the alley.

It seemed like such a perfect Saturday morning.

"Mornin´" Kadaj announced, rubbing his eyes as he came into the kitchen, crawling onto his chair and yawning at his bowl of cereal.

Only then did he have a look around into tight faces and the untouched food, finally acknowledging the gloomy, tense atmosphere sweeping above their heads in heavy waves.

"...Something wrong?" he blinked, looking up to his mom who stood at the stove, making some pancakes in her white apron.

"No, nothing, dear. Eat your cereal, will you?" She turned around with the flipper, a forced, cheerful smile on her beautiful, but tired looking face.

Vincent brushed his clean mouth with a napkin and laid it beside his full plate, not partaking in the 'conversation' at all. He seemed unusually tense and stiff, whereas normally he´d be sitting at the table with his legs crossed, hidden behind the newspaper with a content expression, drinking coffee, and telling Sephiroth to finish the sports section already.

The conversations would be lively and they would make plans on how to spend the weekend.

Today however, it was anything but.

Yazoo just kept pushing his pancake around with a fork, Sephiroth didn´t even pretend to eat at all. Upon Kadaj´s questioning look, Loz just shrugged, forcing some food into his mouth even though he didn´t feel hungry either. He had no idea what was going on, but the tension was killing him, and he hated it when his parents were cranky and he didn´t know what he had done wrong now. Though today it didn´t seem like they were particularly angry with him. Maybe angry wasn´t even the right word…

Lucrecia came back to the table, placing a ridiculously large plate of pancakes in the middle and sitting down as well. She took one, decorating it with a tiny droplet of syrup and then just nervously stared at it, scratching with her fork over the china.

Kadaj winced.

They sat like that for about ten minutes, silently, before Lucrecia exchanged a brief look with her husband and piped up a bit too loudly and chipper,

"Kadaj, Loz, how about we go to the zoo today? We haven´t been there for quite some time!"

"Can Benjamin come too?" Kadaj asked, pulling his stuffed elephant closer and taking another spoon full of milky, puffy cereal. Whatever was going on, he decided it was adult business he didn´t understand anyways (and didn´t particularly want to, if it meant everyone was sporting a tight, haunted expression), so he´d just make the best out of it. And the zoo was his favorite place to go! He remembered that one time when they had been there and Loz was feeling smug, making funny faces at the monkeys and one of them spontaneously peed on his brother. It had been hilarious, and he and Yazoo and Seph had been rolling on the floor, while mum had tried to clean poor crying Loz with a napkin and Vincent had just shaken his head at them!

"Of course!" Lucrecia readily agreed.

Loz shifted in his seat. "What about Yaz and Seph?"

There was another quick visual exchange between husband and wife, and this time it was Vincent´s deep voice booming through the room as he said neutrally, but not quite able to keep the dark edge out of his tone. "I´m afraid they won´t be able to come with you. We have to fetch some stuff from the mall."

"Can´t we all go to the mall and then to the zoo together?" The youngest disappointedly pouted his lower lip out, letting the spoon sink back into the bowl.

"Ah dear, I´m afraid that´s not possible," Lucrecia sighed, nervously playing with her necklace. She and Vincent had decided to keep this incident between the four of them until they had figured something out... They didn´t want to disturb the other two, not before they knew what was actually going on here. To distract the little one, she got up, holding out her hand to him. "But we can visit the pet zoo too and buy lots of fodder for the little kids, hm?"

"Awesome!" Kadaj breathed, bouncing off his chair and grabbing her hand to drag her upstairs.

Loz cleared his throat, standing up as well. "I guess, I´m... getting ready as well..." He shot an unsure glance at his father, who gave a short nod.

"You do that," Vincent said in a friendly manner, adding with a wink, to make his son feel not too uncomfortable, "And take care of your mom and your little brother for me."

It didn´t fail to take effect as Loz´ cheeks flushed proudly. He was very protective when it came to his family, a trait of character Vincent greatly admired about him. "Of course dad! You can count on me!" With his chest puffed out and his features set in determination, he left the kitchen as well to get ready.

Sephiroth stirred his tea a bit, watching the dark fluid swirl, and remarked with a lifted brow,

"You want me to take good care of my little brother as well?"

Vincent´s features tightened again, as did his fists and he emphasized, rather unnerved "Shut. Up. Get into the car."

Yazoo immediately stood, but Sephiroth took his sweet time being defiant, leaning back in his chair and still slowly moving his spoon in the tea.

"Now!" The growl was accompanied by flashing, angry eyes, making very clear that Vincent was indeed not in the mood for power games right now. Usually Sephiroth was a polite boy, when he didn´t have one of his testosterone boosts. And usually Vincent was also quite patient with him, seeing that he was being trapped in the deepest pits of puberty, but today he had no understanding for that, even though he suspected that his son wasn´t feeling half as smug and cool as he pretended to be. He probably just tried to hide his insecurity…

After a pressing look from Yazoo, the oldest rolled his eyes but finally got up to do as he was told and waited in the car.

Shaking his head in exasperation, Vincent drew out a shaky breath, before he pushed his chair back, quickly cleaning up the table and then fetched his wallet from Lucrecia´s purse as well as his cell phone.

Lucrecia had come down again to see him off, wearing a white dress and hugging her curvy form with a worried expression.

Seeing her leaning against the doorway, he took a moment to pull her against his broad chest, kissing her forehead and murmuring, "Don´t worry, it will all work out. Reeve is the best, he will know how to deal with it."

"I hope so," she replied, worrying her lip between her teeth, looking not very convinced.

"I promise. Have fun at the zoo."

"I´ll try." She sighed, giving him a kiss and then gently pushed him out of the door.

When he got to the neatly trimmed, flower rimmed front lawn he could see Sephiroth saying something to Yazoo in the backseat of the car. Speeding up, Vincent roughly pulled the door of their black van open to interrupt their ongoing conversation.

With a sharp nod, he ordered "Get up in the front seat." Despite not wanting them to cook up some convenient story they would try to butter Reeve up with, Vincent also couldn´t bear seeing them close together right now. He still had these horrible images about finding them in his head and hadn´t been quite able to wrap his mind around the concept yet. There were so many unanswered questions, such confusion and things he blamed himself for…

At least this time Sephiroth just obliged, wordlessly getting up from the backseat to sit beside Vincent.

The engine roared to life and they quickly left their quiet, nice suburb. They slowly drove down the road, Vincent feeling obliged to nod at a mowing neighbour every once in a while with a forced smile. He wondered what was going on in _their_ houses behind closed doors…

They also passed by the houses of Angeal Hewley, a serious young man Vincent was quite fond of, and who was a close friend to Sephiroth. Right beside him lived another acquaintance of his son, Genesis Rhapsodos, but the dark haired man wasn´t sure what to think of the slightly melodramatic, poetry-obsessed teen…

"Where are we going anyway?" Sephiroth suddenly interrupted the silence. He had leaned his head against his knuckles, wearing a blank expression as he looked out of the window and the small houses rushing past them, becoming bigger and dirtier as they neared towards the inner city. The shops were open and the streets were buzzing with people and families heading for the parks or the shopping malls, laughing and chatting and everything seemed so very uncomplicated… At least everything outside of the driving vehicle.

Vincent just threw him a short look before he concentrated back on the traffic, driving around a huge monument.

"I got an appointment for you with Reeve."

"That shrink friend of yours?" his eldest snorted, disbelieving, as he turned his head towards his father.

"You brought that onto yourself" the raven haired man replied flatly. Frankly, he was glad that he could delegate this problem to a professional, and he trusted Reeve with this. It was still embarrassing and highly disturbing, but it was easier to let someone handle the situation who knew his kids since they´d been toddlers than to try and explain it to a complete stranger…

"Great." Sephiroth turned back to his window, his morose expression declaring this conversation over.

In the rearview mirror, Vincent observed his other child glancing at Sephiroth, before he became aware that he was watched and quickly averted his eyes.

The rest of the drive was spent in thick silence, until eventually Vincent pulled into the parking lot in front of a high late Victorian building that stood in an alley of closely hugging, similar high class buildings. Reeve´s business was definitely paying...

"Let´s get this over with," Vincent muttered, after he had blankly stared at the street for a minute, gathering his strength and thoughts and finally got out of the car with a secret, heavy sigh. This day could only get better.

Tbc?

* * *

**Hm, I know there seem to be some similarities to some of my other stories, and I am sorry about that, but it will change, I promise. Also Reeve... I can´t help but think that he so looks like a shrink XD**

**BlackDomina:** Thank you XD I haven´t written that much yet, but I hope I can continue this one ^^ And yeah, Sephy is pretty cocky, he´s a teenager, full of hormones XD

**Soyna: **Ah, I think Lucrecia and Vincent went home earlier than their kids had expected, because the play was so awful XD Hm, you´re right, I left a lot of openings, but I hope to close them soon^^

**Natzilla:** Hehe, Vince´s comment about the blankets was a pun, because Lu said they were getting old, and you know…. Old people use these blankets ;) Ew, it´s not nice to be caught by your parents at all, but with your own sibling? Hell, I´d rather die!

**Gismo1:** Awwwww *lends you some nails* I´m glad you liked it! Okies, so here was the second chapter, I hope you enjoyed that too!

**Lenko:** Ah yes, I can see what you mean. However, this won´t be like in Golden Lotus. Sephiroth is a very complexe creature, and he won´t be like in Golden Lotus at all here, so no worries! And Vincent and Lucrecia will take care of their sons of course! I must warn you though: usually, the way I write Yazoo he´s not quite such an innocent and good boy XD

**Aeriths-Rain:** Yay, thank you! I will see how much response I will get with this fic XD So far I have no straight plot set, so I can finish as soon as interest in it is waning XD I hope however, that I can write something people keep enjoying^^

**Oztan:** Oh, Cid Raines…. Never heard of him, I gotta google him XD Thanks for the idea!

**IA1979: **Awww, thank you so much! The same can beside vice versa: I can´t live without your awesome reviews, so I´m happy you got internet too!!! Ah yes, incest is a very sensitive topic… Personally, I think it shouldn´t be forbidden between siblings as long as it is consensual. Hehe, you´re right Teh Allure is powerful indeed ;) I hope I can answer all your questions within the next chapters!

**Sweetciel:** Okies, so this chan gets moar XD Hope you liked it!!!

**Soooo, you still want to read more?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the relatively long wait and thank you all for the motivating comments! Special kudos go out to my beloved AlexJ69 who did an amazing job with the proofreading of this chapter! *huggles***

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 3

Reeve Tuesti was meeting them up in his office as they left the elevator, coming at them with an open, candid smile.

„Vincent! How have you been, old friend? And look at the boys, how much you have grown!"

„Reeve, it is good to see you again," Vincent replied, dutifully shaking the enthusiastically held out hand of his friend and adding with a sidelong glance at his two boys, „Although I wished the circumstances were more... pleasant."

Reeve followed his eyes, his smile turning a bit softer and professional. „Well, let´s talk about it in my office, shall we? I´m sorry, my desk girl is out today since I usually don´t have clients on sundays, but my coffee is pretty good too. My hot chocolate as well, don´t worry."

He winked at the boys, who forced polite smiles onto their faces as they followed the man into his office. The lavish corridors were empty at the weekends, the thick carpet muffling the noises of their footsteps, two of them rather hesitant. Vincent could sense his children´s reluctance, but he had no mercy with them at all. Sure, it wasn´t pleasant to talk about such a shameful thing with a third party, but they should have thought about the consequences before doing such hideous, detestable... _things_! He shouldn´t have allowed them to play these video games and see all these TV programs; he should never have let them leave the house where their innocent and easily impressionable minds got compromised and corrupted by the media and all their filthy trash...

„Orange juice?" the psychiatrist offered, as he gestured to a couch, walking into the small kitchen next to his office. Sephiroth was about to decline but after a pointed look from his father he polite replied, „... Yes, please."

They sat down in the expensive looking office, that was painted in warm, calming colours, decorated with a few abstract prints and green plants. Vincent´s gaze drifted to the high mahogany bookshelf, reading the titles and noticing with slight disappointment that there was nothing about incest. Well, he trusted Reeve to handle this. Still, he wished Lucrecia would have come here with the boys, she was much better at explaining such things, and always found the right words. It was save to assume that Vincent felt at least as uncomfortable in this situation as his sons did... However his anger and indignation drove him to push his uneasiness away and keep a dark expression. Adjusting the tie of his black suit, he shot his boys a look, warning darkly "You will behave."

After a moment Reeve was back with a tray he placed on the small table, holding two cups of coffee, as well as two green glasses with a yellow liquid. He sat down opposite the family, briefly sizing up Vincent, who had forced himself between his two sons. The boys were sitting hunched at the two poles of his sofa. Each of them were busy observing some obviously rather interesting spot on the carpet, avoiding to either look at their father nor his friend. Interesting.

„So, may I ask how I can help you?" Reeve´s questioning eyes fell on Vincent, but the man leaned back with his arms folded over his chest. Rising a brow, he stated wryly,

„Sephiroth, Yazoo. Why don´t you tell Reeve why we are here."

Obviously he was in a pretty sour mood. However, the bearded man didn´t miss the slightly nervous twitch of his friend´s foot. So Vincent was pretty uncomfortable himself about this... Well, it wasn´t very surprising actually; the fact that this usually very private and secretive man had called to ask for a professional meeting with a part of his family was quite exceptional on itself. However, the psychiatrist had no idea what the occasion could be; he didn´t meet Vincent that often since they were both pretty busy, but whenever they talked Vincent only had to report good things about his sons. He was very proud of them, Reeve had no doubt about that.

„What, now all of a sudden you are being shy?" Vincent gave a derisive snort, that sounded a bit impelled and helpless. When he didn´t get an answer from either of his sons, he just dropped the bomb himself in a grave tone,

„I caught them making out."

The psychiatrist hid his surprised expression well at this revelation, as he just softly replied „I see."

Vincent seemed almost a bit disappointed by his rather unspectacular comment, but it didn´t escape Reeve that his two sons threw each other a quick, slightly confused look.

„Vincent... would you mind giving us a moment?"

The man didn´t seem too excited about that particular idea, but eventually he got up from the sofa, and with a last, unidentifiable look at his children, closed the door behind him.

Instantly, the boys relaxed.

Good, that was what Reeve had hoped for. Vincent was biased, and, unconsciously, put them under a lot of pressure.

„Orange juice?" the psychiatrist offered again, and this time at least Yazoo nodded and took a glass from the tray, hesitantly sipping at it. Sephiroth had taken a more comfortable posture on the couch, not clinging to the edge anymore.

They really had grown a lot since he had last seen them...

„How old are you?" Reeve asked friendly to keep them going, carefully trying to make them open up to him.

„Sixteen, sir. Yazoo turned fourteen last month." Sephiroth had intertwined his fingers on his lap, dominating the sofa now. Yazoo calmly nurtured his orange juice, naturally leaving the talking to his older brother, though he didn´t look intimidated or shy, not exactly. It seemed that whereas Sephiroth had inherited the natural authority of his father, Yazoo was content with his quiet side.

„Do you want to tell me what happened?" Reeve asked, sipping at his coffee, eyes friendly and calm.

„No, but we don´t have much of a choice, do we?" It sounded slightly sardonic, but not hostile.

Reeve just threw him an understanding, encouraging look, Sephiroth didn´t really reciprocate. Instead he sighed, leaning his head against his knuckles, appearing almost tired and bored of the topic.

„Very well then."

*

Vincent paced the waiting room, looking at the clock every ten seconds. How long could it take to explain such a simple thing?! Reeve wasn´t giving them the talk about the birds and bees, was he?!

Might not have been such a bad thing to do, Vincent had to silently admit. Maybe then this wouldn´t have happened... Although now it was too late anyway, it seemed. And here he´d thought that his family life was perfect, that he could trust his kids for being responsible and well-raised... _Such_ a thing, he could not fathom what had driven them! Especially Sephiroth, he was the elder, he should know that incest was immoral, hideous, absolutely _forbidden_ and how dare he do this with his little brother!

But maybe, maybe there was still a chance of doing things right, if Reeve could talk some sense into them-

„There´s some magazines over there, and if you´re hungry you can make something in the kitchen, there´s cheese and bacon in the fridge for sandwiches. Ah, Vincent, can I have a moment with you?"

The man just frowned, but walked back into the office, looking suspiciously at the door after Reeve had closed it. „You think it´s a good idea to have them in a room together, alone?"

The laugh he received startled him a bit, but it was good-naturedly. „Yes, I think they will be fine. Sit, please."

„And?" Vincent did sit down, his fingers curling around his knees, knuckles turning white. He tried to be as patient as he could, but he needed to know. And both Sephiroth and Yazoo´s expressions as they left the office had been blank, giving him no clue on how the conversation developed...

„Well, you can relax. Your boys are perfectly normal. Actually, you did a great job raising them, they are very polite and quite mature for their age." Reeve finally offered, a faint smile tugging at his lips, small wrinkles of silent laughter around his eyes. As he had expected, Vincent sat up straight in surprise, stiffening, but then he drew his dark brows together in splenetic confusion.

„... Did they tell you what they did?"

Reeve put a spoonful of sugar into his empty cup, pouring some of the steaming black substance from the white, flower patterned pot over it and stirred the contents a bit so that they mixed together. „Yes, they did."

The look of confusion deepened on the handsome man´s face opposite the psychologist, and his long fingers tensed around the black fabric of his expensive suit again. „But-"

„They were just 'screwing around' Vincent. They are curious about certain things at that age, and they are close, so they just... tried it out. Don´t worry, I am quite certain that they won´t do it again. Despite the embarrassment and shock of getting caught, they did not actually enjoy what they did. Or to quote Yazoo 'it was sticky and icky and messy and I don´t think I´ll ever do something like that again'."

Vincent listened, frowning, eyes narrowing further, before he shook his head and dismissed any attempts of explaining what had driven them with one single -but nonetheless powerful- killer argument: „But they are brothers!"

Sighing, the psychologist crossed his legs and took up his coffee cup, silently wondering how long it would take him to convince his stubborn friend. He could understand Vincent too, had it been his own children being caught in such an act he probably wouldn´t have been so calm about it as he was now. However, despite all the emotional involvement and ignorance from Vincent, Reeve knew that eventually he would get through to him.

„And that is why it makes sense to share your curiosity with someone you trust and feel close to. It´s not that uncommon, Vincent."

The other man´s eyes just flared up again, as he exclaimed, moving a frustrated hand through his dark hair, „But they are only 14 and 16, they are practically still toddlers! They shouldn´t be interested in such... such..._ things!_"

„Like gay sex?" Reeve offered, lifting a brow and taking a sip from his too sweet coffee.

„Don´t say it like that!" Vincent growled, scandalized. „They are still my boys, they are too young and innocent, and it´s all the media´s fault! I should prohibit them TV, and these video games and... internet!"

Inwardly shaking his head, Reeve sat his cup aside and put his fingertips together, his voice dropping to a lower tone „Vincent, they are teenager, it´s only natural for them to be interested in..." he cleared his throat, out of consideration sparing his friend any too graphic terms "... these things."

For a moment it seemed as if the worried father would protest again, but then his shoulders slumped and he leaned back, looking somewhat defeated with the way he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

„So what are we supposed to do now? We can´t just let it slide.... Can we?" His sharp, searching gaze fell onto Reeve again, seeking advice and some instruction from a professional on how to handle this, since clearly, Vincent was at his wit´s end.

„Don´t push yourself too hard, it is not your fault. Just keep your eyes open, let them know that if there is anything they are curious about they can always talk to you, that you´ll listen to them without judging them. Offer your support. They are your kids, Vincent, they love you, they want to trust you and they need you. Sanctioning them or hiding everything with sexual content will do nothing but drive them away from you, and then things like yesterday will happen."

There was a very long pause, dragging on almost five minutes, before Vincent could bring himself to finally say „Maybe you´re right, maybe we have neglected their sexual education. I will talk to Lu about it. But just to make sure... would you mind seeing them every once in a while? Maybe ... every Wednesday, 4 pm?"

Reeve gave a silent laugh behind his fist at that, finding his friend´s disconcerted face quite adorable. However that expression turned into a frown now, as the other sternly declared „Are you making fun of me? Because, in all truth, I do not find this whole matter amusing at all."

„No, no! Not at all!" the psychiatrist hurried to assure, holding his hands up in a pacifying manner.

Vincent just lifted a brow and almost sulkily sipped at his coffee, giving the silent treatment.

„You´re a great father, who would know better than I? Maybe you´re a bit... closed up, and not exactly the best-buddy kind of dad, but you are honest and concerned and you would give them everything." Reeve smiled openly, trying to placate the other. If Vincent got into one of his brooding moods it was hard to pull him out of it again... However, his words seemed to have done the trick, because Vincent´s eyes widened and he stared his friend right in the face.

„Are you saying that I am frigid?!"

Appalled by that suggestion, Reeve lifted his hands again, hurriedly assuring

„No, I´m not! Well, I don´t know, maybe Lucrecia is a more suitable person to ask that... Just, relax a bit, don´t be angry with them. They are growing up, they make mistakes, don´t hold it against them. Be there, let them know you love and support them."

The man relaxed again, shook his head to himself, but didn´t look quite as dismayed anymore. „And you´re sure they won´t do it again?"

„Yes." A warm smile graced Reeve´s features, and this was all it took to convince Vincent.

*

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Yazoo was leaning against the counter, watching Sephiroth crouching before the fridge and inspecting its contents.

„You think he bought it?"

The elder turned a box of cheese in his hand, before he threw it back inside and closed the door, getting up. He took the time to seize his brother up, before he broke into a smirk. That was the younger´s sign to come nearer and pull the elder closer, who in return grabbed Yazoo by the hips.

„You were pretty convincing. Could have fooled me..."

His hot breath brushed over Yazoo´s mouth before his lips did, and two wet tongues passionately intertwined.

„So, you´ll never do it again, hm? That sticky... messy... stuff..." Sephiroth muttered, as his hands wandered down Yazoo´s sides to teasingly squeeze his buttocks while he trailed kisses along his brother´s throat. The younger´s eyes hooded and he leaned into the touches with a pleased sigh. Nonetheless Sephiroth finally pointed out, voice low,

„We should keep a low profile for a while though. Mum and Dad seemed pretty freaked out."

Something akin to guilt flickered in the elder´s eyes as he let go with a sigh, instead holding Yazoo´s hand. Looking to the ground, long hair obscuring his youthful face a bit, Yazoo hesitantly agreed.

„Yes, you´re right. They don´t seem like they would understand..."

Sephiroth´s expression turned grim, as he pinched the bridge of his nose. „Remind me to strangle Genesis first thing when we get back. 'A Modern Interpretation of Loveless'," he snorted, asking himself how he could ever have thought it could keep their parents glued to the theatre seats for two hours. „I should have known this wouldn´t work."

Yazoo just gave him a chaste kiss on the mouth. „Let´s get back to the waiting room. They could be done every minute."

tbc?

* * *

**Okay, I didn´t draw out the scene with the boys speaking to Reeve, but if there is any interest I can still do that in flashbacks. Otherwise... Well, this is all that I have written for this story so far, and it can be ended here as a mini-story. Unless you would like to read more? I´m not sure...**

**Review replies *suppressed squeal***

**Aeriths-Rain:** Yesh, Kadaj is so cute ^__^ And Vincent is scandalized XD Thanks for reading and reviewing dear!

**Psycho Steph**: I think Sephiroth might be putting on a facade of deviance so he doesn´t have to admit to anyone (including himself) that he did something wrong. Just like the typical teenager XD Ah, and there is some unspoken communication all right XD

**IA1979**: Haha, no pancakes are triggered with bad memories now XD I´m the same as you and Kadaj, yay! Let´s stay kids forever^^ You know, it´s always the quiet ones, isn´t it? ;)

**natzilla**: Did you read the new chapter already as well? I can´t remember *scratches head*

**Soyna**: Gahaha, you´re so right! Hey might seem neat and orderly, the neighbours, but when the lights are turned off they creep under their beds to secretly read smutty fanfiction XD

**Madisuzy**: Yesh, what a sweet idea! Vincent joining them to overcome his incest-phobia sounds like the perfect therapy XDD Thank you for reviewing dear!

**Labe**: Thank you so much my dear! *huggles* Okies, here´s more and we´ll see about the rest XD

**deviousfairie**: Wow thank you! I must admit that sometimes, I read the lat page of a book too, just to make sure that everything is going well XD And I do slip parts when I get bored... but that´s another story XD Sephiroth isn´t evil incarnated at all- he´s just a confused teenager. And we´ll see about Yazoo soon enough ;) I´m glad you like it so far!

**Gismo1**: It´s kind of sad, isn´t it? But it does make sense to Vincent; the shrink is a professional who was trained in dealing with stuff like that. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

**Oztan**: Haha, we will see about that Sephiroth/Cloud thing XD I am not quie sure how this will all play out yet myself, but I am very happy that you are enjoying it so far^^

** Review please?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Many many thanks to the wonderful AlexJ69 for the awesome betaing!! *huggles***

* * *

chapter 4

They stopped only once on their way back home, at the mall, Vincent curtly informing them that he had to run an errand. Half an hour later, he was back with a big brown bag he wordlessly placed in the trunk.

20 minutes later they entered the empty house, since Lucrecia and the boys were still out. Sephiroth and Yazoo followed their father inside, neither having spoken a word since they had left Reeve´s practice.

The boys awkwardly stood by the kitchen table as Vincent, who faced them with his back leaning against the sink, quickly gulped down a huge glass of water. The paper bag was standing beside him, next to the unwashed dishes piling up. From out of the corner of his eye, he could see the older boy shift and so he finally turned around. To him, they looked quite contrite now. Well, they had every reason to be, they hadn't been good boys at all!

Sephiroth cleared his throat, as the silence dragged on. "So… I suppose we are grounded now?"

Vincent mulled that over in his head, suppressing the instant urge to emphasize _'You bet you are! Period!'_. Instead, he closed his eyes for a moment, and pinched the bridge of his nose, before he finally answered, "No, you are not. Your mother and I decided to not punish you this time. Under one condition: you will never EVER do such things again. Are we clear?"

He could see the confusion in their eyes. Sephiroth opened his mouth, probably to snidely point out that there was no way he could have talked about this with Lucrecia already, but then the boy wisely refrained from doing so. Instead, he just nodded, "Of course. It won´t happen again. We promise."

"Thanks dad," Yazoo came closer, drawing his arms around his father´s neck –he had to stand on the tips of his toes- and pulled him close in a weak hug. Vincent awkwardly reciprocated the hug, muttering a "You´re welcome," not quite used to such a display of affection. It wasn't that they didn't hug at all, it was just that the quiet man usually didn't know how to initiate such actions with his older sons, thinking they might have grown out of it.

Sephiroth quickly went over to him too, not wanting to be second to his younger brother. He gave his father a short embrace as well. "Yes, thank you."

"Well, well…" Vincent didn't quite know what to say. He still wasn't at ease with all the strange things that had happened not even 24 hours ago, but they seemed sincere enough to him…

"Before your mother comes home, you might want to do the dishes and mow the lawn. To relieve her workload a bit." Lifting his brow, Vincent looked into their none-too-enthused faces, but they didn't refuse the request.

"Sure," Sephiroth just nonchalantly replied, and Yazoo nodded his head, long moonlight hair waving a bit.

"Good. I am going to my office, there is work I need to take care of." He quickly grabbed his bag and went down to his home office, closing the door behind him, so he wouldn't be disturbed.

Finally!

Vincent exhaled a long breath, put the bag on his desk and turned on the air conditioner before he loosened his tie and got rid of his suit jacket.

It wasn't particularly hot today, but this whole situation was putting his body on edge.

Shooting the innocent-looking bag a sidelong glance, Vincent turned his back on it, walked to the high window and pulled the curtain aside to watch Sephiroth fight with the mower. So Yazoo was doing the dishes. Good. He didn't really want them together right now, even though he did trust Reeve´s judgement. Otherwise he wouldn't have taken his children there…

With a sigh, he sat down on a comfortable, worn out armchair his grandfather had used during his studies. Well, Vincent had to do some of his own studying now.

Hours had passed, and Vincent, being so absorbed in his reading, didn't even notice the door opening or the lithe body that had slipped in, until two arms wrapped around him from behind.

"Very busy, I see."

Vincent jumped a bit at the soft voice purring into his ear, and shut the book on reflex with a dull snap.

Clearing his throat, Vincent briefly squeezed the slender hand of his wife resting on his chest. "Welcome back. How was the zoo?"

Lucrecia withdrew with a sigh to sit on the edge of the desk, her skirt shuffling up a bit. "It was okay. The boys had fun, I think. How was it on your end?"

Vincent took a moment to carefully arrange his books and put some papers over them, before he answered, "Well. Reeve said that there is nothing to worry about. He came to the conclusion that it was a one time occurrence. But he agreed to see them once a week now, just to be sure."

"I see, that sounds good!" Lucrecia optimistically exclaimed with a smile that seemed very relieved. Her husband hesitantly nodded his head, keeping his hands on the desk. He was not so convinced.

"Well," she sighed, slipping from his desk. "The boys are hungry, and I promised them to make pizza, so I´ll be down in the kitchen."

"Good." Vincent still looked relatively expressionless, something that told her that he was carefully hiding his concerns to not bother her, but the wheels in his head were still turning.

"Don´t worry. Reeve knows what he is doing."

"I hope so." _'Yes,'_ Lucrecia thought, _'that didn't sound very convinced at all.'_ She placed another kiss on his forehead, leaving the matter until he had figured it out for himself and would come to consult her about the results later. He had already gone back to his studies, only looking up once more when she was almost out, asking,

"Could you please send Sephiroth and Yazoo down before you go?"

She nodded, and closed the door behind her, walking down the corridor to her oldest son´s room. The door was open and she found him sitting cross legged on the bed, one of his beloved electronic guitars on his lap, earphones sitting atop his head, amplifier switched on.

Loz was crouched on the ground, one of his tools in hand, brows knitted in concentration. Lucrecia could never grasp how he managed to distinguish between his tools, so many of them were littering the floor of his room! But Loz was very good at everything that could be fixed with his hands and she was truly thankful for that because her husband was all thumbs when it came to such things.

"And?" Loz just asked, unaware of his mother leaning in the doorway with her arms folded over her chest, watching them.

Sephiroth´s thumb brushed over the strings, filling the air with vibrations but no sounds, and his face lit up with a small smile.

"Works perfectly again."

"Great." Loz got up with a grunt, padding the amplifier with a satisfied and slightly proud expression. "Just call me if it acts up again, we might need to exchange one of the input jacks, it´s pretty loose."

"Thanks." Sephiroth just looked up, putting the guitar aside, when he noticed his mother in the door, and his face became guarded again, albeit questioning.

Lucrecia inwardly sighed. She wished these teenage hormone years would have spared them, she felt as if they were driving her kids away from her. Only in moments like the previous one, when she caught them unguarded did she feel like she was really seeing their true selves.

"Your father wants to see you," she explained with a smile, keeping her face from contorting as his face became even harder.

Lucrecia didn´t wait for Sephiroth to reply, but went to Yazoo´s room instead. She poked her head inside to find Kadaj jumping excitedly on the bed with the plush giraffe she had bought him, telling Yazoo all about their awesome adventures.

"And then the chimpanzee baby like, dug its finger into its mom´s ear and put it in her mouth and it was sooo gross!"

"Hm-hm," Yazoo distractedly hummed in front of his computer screen, fingers flying over the keyboard at an insane speed without him even so much as glancing down.

"You aren´t listening to me!" Kadaj complained from the bed with a huff, stopping to maltreat the mattress with his little feet.

"Chimpanzee, ear, gross," was the monotonous repetition that didn´t really placate the littlest. When he spotted his mother waiting by the door, Kadaj jumped from the bed, flying at her with an eager smile. "Is the pizza done already? I´m hungry!"

"Not yet my dear," she replied, stroking over his head, as he didn´t seem very pleased. "Yazoo, Dad wants to see you in his study."

There was some more clicking, until the keyboard got a rest and Yazoo got up, tilting his head. He didn't ask what Vincent wanted either. Well, there weren't many possibilities anyway.

Lucrecia watched him cross the room and vanish as he headed down to his father´s study, just like Sephiroth had a minute before.

Tbc

* * *

**AN: Hm, I decided to continue this for a bit because it is fun and gives me something to relax^^ I think this fic will concentrate more on the boys now, how they live and what they do etc. *rubs hands* I luff the shm, so they should be the center of attention this time, and I will try to keep the dark themes somewhat under wraps ;)**

**Review replies, yay *(^___^)***

**Aeriths-Rain:** Yeah, poor Vincent, he´s being played :( It would have been a good point to end it indeed, but some plot bunnies scampered past, and I couldn´t resist XD

**oztan:** Oh, I like your ideas for a continuation! So much potential for drama!!! Hm, I will see if I can include something like that ;)

**Soyna:** Hehe, I love them manipulative as well XD They are the total opposite of Vincent, I guess, who is really a bit frigid... On the other hand he managed to produce 4 kids though... XD

**Psycho Steph**: Haha, so true! I bet Vincent wouldn´t take his eyes off them one second if he could XD He knows them all too well... So they must be careful now!

**Gismo1:** Hahahahahahhahahahaha, we´ll so see tongue in a bit XDDD I promise!

**IA1979**: I must admit that I have no actual numbers about how often incest happens between siblings (and those numbers wouldn´t be very valid anyways), but I can imagine that if you´re close, it does make sense to try these things out. Close friends do it quite often when they hit puberty. Oh, I must admit that so far, I haven´t a thought out plot for this story – which is a good thing because it keeps me writing and I discover things while writing^^ If the plot is drawn out in my head I tend to get tired of it too soon and end the story abruptly, because it´s getting boring for me XD So don´t hesitate to throw ideas my way^^

**natzilla:** HAH!!! You will not know this chapter or the next two to come :P Be surprised and in awe now o^o I like old-fashioned Vincent, he strikes me as the gentleman type, a bit dusty and stiff, but well... also, he is a concerned parent, never underestimate THOSE! And yeah, I like to make fun of shrinks, how did you notice? XD

**Spazzy Mandy:** Very well then, your wish is my command ;) I hope you liked the new chapter^^

**PoppetlurvesZexion:** Hehe, those two are good liars indeed^^ Yes, parents always search for something to blame it on when things get wrong and it is much easier to shove responsibility into the media´s lap than actually facing one´s own mistakes -_- But I suppose in Vincent´s eyes his boys are innocent and pure, so something else had to corrupt them; they cannot possibly have these desires from within ;)

**Many many thanks to everyone who reviewed and I hope you´ll continue to do so, because it keeps me writing^^ *such a review whore***


	5. Chapter 5

**Many thanks to AlexJ69 for the wonderful betaing^^**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"Close the door behind you please."

Yazoo did as he was told, and quietly walked over to one of the old chairs sitting in front of Vincent´s giant and quite intimidating desk. Vincent observed with some satisfaction that he avoided taking a seat beside Sephiroth on the couch. So they were feeling guilty about what they had done. At least it was something.

Vincent folded his hands on the table, waiting a calculated amount of time to make them uncomfortable, before he finally started. "You know why I called you, I assume."

The two shot each other a quick look, before Sephiroth lifted his shoulders in a tiny shrug that pretended to be unfazed. Vincent was no fool; he read body language like other people read random advertisement placates; routinised and seeing right through the promised lies. He just lacked the desperate need to make himself believe in the fake promises.

"Your mother and I have been thinking about what to do with you two now. Even though I mentioned that there will be no punishment for you, that does not mean that there will be no consequences." Vincent explained gravely, his voice becoming low and authoritative. He did not enjoy putting on this attitude, but in this case it wasn't that hard. This wasn't about playing soccer in the living room, this was about the cohesion of their family!

Another shared, uneasy look.

Vincent´s expression grew a bit darker; he didn't like that they were bonding against him here. Still he firmly sat in his seat, staring them down until they fixated their gazes on the carpet.

"I assume that you are aware that what you did was wrong?"

Yazoo kept his gaze on the ground but nodded. Sephiroth crossed his legs, watching his hands folded in his lap. "Yes."

"Good," Vincent replied flatly, before he continued, his voice going a bit softer as he sighed, abandoning his stiff posture.

"Your mother and I talked about this, and we came to the conclusion that what you did is inexcusable. However," he paused, pushing his papers a bit to arrange them in a more orderly fashion (and to prolong the inevitable,) "we are aware that we are partly to blame for having delayed your sexual education for so long and I decided that we will correct this mistake now."

The aghast expressions of his sons might have been amusing, if Vincent hadn't felt so very uncomfortable and out of his element. If it hadn't undermined his authority, he might have squirmed and cringed to express his misery. There was a _reason_ why he had never given them the talk about the birds and bees! He did not enjoy this and inwardly Vincent suspected that he was the one suffering most right now... Oh, if only he'd had girls, sweet, innocent little daughters, then he could have shoved this talk onto Lucrecia!

"You mean like... now?" Sephiroth peeped up, frowning, and very warily glancing at the books, before daring to suggest, "Because, with all due respect, I don´t think that is necessary and maybe you can just punish us with doing house chores for the rest of our lives an-"

"Shut up and listen! I went through the lengths of buying this damn research material in a public book store and you will listen _now_ and if it is the last thing you do!" Vincent snapped, his morose tone being betrayed by the humiliated blush on his cheeks. It had been so very embarrassing to face that smug book seller and his infuriating judgemental smile - Vincent would make them suffer for doing this to him!

"As I was able to witness yesterday, you are quite knowledgeable about the mechanics of homosexual intercourse by now, so this should be quick," _'Hopefully' _he added in thought. Taking a deep breath, the man finally announced, his tortured voice shaking only slightly,

"I have here a banana and a condom." Vincent reached into his brown paper bag, summoning aforementioned objects with a pointed glare at his sons, daring the two to say something about it, and held them up. For a tiny second he hated them a bit for making him do this.

"Oh come on dad, you can´t be serious!" Sephiroth shadowed his eyes with long fingers, lowering his head in a disbelieving, embarrassed manner. Good, at least he still had some shame.

Vincent´s face was stern and relentless, even though he inwardly wished he could just let them off the hook. Girls; girls! "You brought this on to yourselves, young men. Here you go." He held the two items out to his incredulous sons. . "The more cooperative you are, the faster we can get this over with."

Sephiroth still face-palmed but watched through his fingers as Yazoo simply got up, being the brave one this time to carefully take both items from his father´s hands and sit back down in his chair. The condom was opened and rolled over the banana in mere seconds and with an ease that terrified his father quite a bit.

The coated fruit was wordlessly laid back onto the table, where it was stared at like a twelve-headed rhinoceros bird.

Clearing his throat, Vincent muttered, "I see you are quite practiced."

"Sexual education, we had that just two months ago at school," Yazoo explained unenthusiastically.

"I see." It sounded too relieved for Vincent´s own liking. "Very well, now you go."

He fished another condom out of his bag with pointy fingers and threw it at his oldest son, who caught it effortlessly, getting up to retrieve the banana.

In its constricting cage it had started to become mushy and soft and Sephiroth tearing the old condom away to replace it with an obnoxious turquoise one wasn't helping matters. Limply it hung there, shoved into latex again, dripping some yellow sludge onto the carpet.

Vincent didn't want to look at it and quickly hid the impotent fruit in his desk, clearing his throat and gathering his wits again to continue in his no-shit-voice,

"Very well... Now you know that homosexual intercourse is very dangerous and can be painful if you do not take care." The drawer with the banana was shut with a snap. "You can catch many diseases, AIDS being one of the most fatal among them, not to mention the social consequences and exclusions. You will never be able to have biological children with a partner of your own sex, you will be facing humiliation and discrimination as well as the possibility of physical harm." Vincent put on his most warning look before he abandoned it in favour of a slightly pained sigh "If you still decide that you must be homosexual however, your mother and I will not hold it against you and will support you in your decision as long as you keep your hands off of any family members. Are we clear?"

Another very pointed look was shot at the young men.

"Yes, Dad," the boys instantaneously echoed in unison, eager to get out of this living hell ASAP.

"Fine. If you have any questions or want to talk about it, you can always talk to your mother... and I... though you should rather talk to your mother, she is so much more... helpful when it comes to these things! ... Never mind, you can come to us. I have books now, you can read them if you want to, I will not ask any questions. They are in my study, you can get them without asking me beforehand." After his monologue, the tortured daddy took a deep breath, needing a moment to get himself together again. "Any questions?"

The boys shook their heads vehemently.

Vincent couldn´t even begin to describe the feeling of relief that washed over him.

"Fine. Yazoo, you can leave now, I want to talk to your brother alone."Yazoo was out of the room so fast, Vincent hadn´t even time to blink.

Turning towards his oldest, he pinched the bridge of his nose, looking somewhat tired. "I am very disappointed, Sephiroth, I do not think I need to tell you that. I know that you are at a difficult age, but there are _limits_. You will not take it out on your brothers, you have a responsibility and they trust you! Your mother and I trusted you! If something like this happens again, then as God is my witness, I will draw drastic consequences! Do you understand me?"

"I understand." Sephiroth did look quite demure underneath his cool façade, squirming under the burning look of his father. Eventually Vincent sighed, waving a hand and tiredly rubbed his temple.

"You are dismissed."

tbc

* * *

**natzilla:** Yeah, Yazoo isn´t fully grown yet XD And Vincent is pretty large^^ And Vincent´s bag is full of dirty secrets XD Yeah, chimps might be gross, but they are fun to watch!

Aeriths-Rain: Yay, I´m glad you like it^^ Kadaj and Loz are quite fun to write actually XD

**Psycho Steph:** Yah, the mysterious paper bag, it all comes down to it XD And Vincent knows his boys. he´s naturally sceptic ^^

**Labe:** Oh, this time it´s only me writing this fic^^ It´ll be interesting indeed to see how the boys will behave now... will they continue? Hm... XD

**PoppetlurvesZexion:** hahaha, 50 secret obessions? Oh my, you must be pretty occupied then XD But I´m glad you still like it, and I hope you´ll continue to do^^

**oztan:** Yes, of course it will include Kadaj and Loz as well! We will see some brotherly action in the next chapter^^

**IA1979:** Heh, Vincent´s suspicious, he will keep an eye on them all right XD Seph does have some kind of band, but we will hear about it later^^

**Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing and I wish you a very happy easter with lots of chocolate bunnies^^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Many many thanks to my awesome beta AlexJ69 for helping me out!!!**

**Enjoy^^**

* * *

Chapter 6

"All right, the pizza is in the oven and should be done in another 10 minutes. What else..." Lucrecia tapped a finger against her powdered chin, having a look through the warmly lit kitchen. It was getting dark outside now, and they were already late...

"Ah, make sure Kadaj takes his vitamins!"

Sephiroth just nodded, ignoring the face his littlest brother was secretly making. He leaned against the counter, arms crossed, waiting for his mother to finish her round. Kadaj was crouched before the oven, watching it closely because he had taken on the important task of making sure that the pizza wouldn't burn.

Yazoo and Loz sat on the couch in the dark living room, only illuminated by the blue, cold light of the TV. They were busy with some video game, and judging from Loz´s constant string of curses that he mumbled under his breath so his mom wouldn't hear it, it was a pretty intense game.

It had been quite the surprise when Lucrecia had come down into the kitchen, dressed up in a red evening gown, her hair pulled up in a wavy ponytail and high heels strapped to her feet. It was one of their friend´s birthday parties tonight , but after what had happened last night, Sephiroth hadn't thought they would go. Little did he know that Vincent had strongly objected, but Lucrecia was set on going, telling him that they needed to move on, that they had to show their kids that they still trusted them and that they couldn't monitor them all the time. Vincent had morosely pointed out that he did _not _trust them, and if anyone asked him his opinion, he wouldn't mind installing surveillance cameras in their rooms, but Lucrecia had just laughed and told him to not be silly.

In the end Vincent had been overruled, which was why he was coming down the stairs now, still working on his tie.

He didn't look at Sephiroth when he stopped in the doorway asking, "Are you done?"

"Yes, coming." Lucrecia placed a kiss atop the head of her youngest and quickly hugged her oldest, before announcing towards the living room, "We´re leaving!"

"Fucking SONOFABITCH MOOOOOVE!!!!!"

Loz was busy smashing his controller on the ground in frustration, racking his short hair that it stood up to all sides. Yazoo gave a low, somewhat gloating chuckle, and leaned back, basking in his victory.

Lucrecia chose to just ignore this little sequence and dragged her husband out to the car for a hopefully nice evening full of distraction.

*

The four of them were seated around the kitchen table, Kadaj dangling his too short legs over the ground while chewing with concentration on the slice of pizza he held with both his tiny hands.

Loz was just helping himself with his fifth slice, snatching it just right before Yazoo could reach it with a slightly miffed air. Payback was a bitch, even though stealing pizza and getting his ass wiped in Tekken were not very comparable. Yazoo was a clever guy, though, Loz was sure he got the message.

Yazoo simply lifted a brow and took another slice of the succulent, self-made pizza, chewing it unfazed. Wasn't his fault that he was a genius (and that Loz had taken the controller he might have 'accidentally' altered a bit after their last game).

Sephiroth wasn't very hungry, listlessly staring down his half eaten slice, reassuring Kadaj again and again that it was delicious and that he really just wasn't hungry whenever the boy asked with a dubious look.

Just now, the littlest tore another chunk from his slice, oil and cheese splashing onto his plate. "You _really_ not hungry?" he frowned. The tomato sauce that was running down his chin was absently wiped away with a dirty napkin by Yazoo, who kept nibbling at the hard crust of an end piece.

"I put extra peperoni on it for you," the youngest delicately pointed out, poking at said shrivelled spice with his smudgy finger on the cold piece resting forlornly on Sephiroth´s crumb littered plate.

"And too many olives," Loz grumpily declared, reaching for another slice on the quickly emptying baking pan sitting in the middle of the table.

"Don´t cry, Loz." Yazoo smirked, taking a sip from his half empty water glass, and meeting his brother's indignant "I'm not crying!" with a roll of his green eyes.

"I'm _really_ not hungry," Sephiroth assured for the fourth time, moodily crossing his arms over his chest, but sparing Kadaj a tiny, forced smile.

Huffing, Kadaj lifted his small shoulder in a resigned shrug, before he eyed Sephiroth and Yazoo with a curious glance. "So, what did you do?"

"We didn't do anything – cheese!"

The warning came too late and sighing, Yazoo got up to fetch a cloth from the sink to clean up the mess Kadaj had just created on the kitchen floor. The youngest frowned at the mushy yellow spot on the tiles, before looking back up at Sephiroth, declaring, not very convinced,

"Yeah you did! Otherwise you´d have been allowed to come to the zoo with us, but you _didn't _and besides, Dad was totally pissed at the two of you!" He looked somewhat satisfied, having established his line of argument with such overwhelming evidence.

"He was," Loz grunted, just for good measure. He was pretty curious too, but he was above asking the cheater directly, just throwing him a look from above.

Yazoo pretended to not see it, busying himself with walking back to the sink and wash out the oily cloth, watching its contents being rinsed down the drain. He could see the translucent reflection of his brothers sitting at the lit table in the dark window, Sephiroth´s back stiffening.

"Eat your pizza. It´s late. You ought to be in bed already," he dismissed Kadaj´s question, earning himself an unhappy huff, because Kadaj was _so_ not tired yet.

Yazoo carefully draped the wet cloth over the tap, before he started to clean the table, setting their plates on the counter. It was Loz´s turn to do the dishes and he sure as hell would constantly remind him, just because it annoyed the elder to no end. They all hated doing the dishes with a passion!

Sephiroth got up from the table to help as well, throwing the remainder of his meal into the trash. He shared a brief look with Yazoo before he turned back to the table, taking away the baking pan just as Loz rescued the last slice from being thrown away by quickly stuffing it into his mouth.

Kadaj unhappily slipped from his seat with a pout to express his unwillingness, but a warning look from the oldest made him shuffle up the stairs to the bathroom anyway. Seph was no fun when he was peeved.

"Don´t forget the dishes," Yazoo remarked sweetly into Loz´ direction, before he went off for a shower as well, making sure Kadaj would properly brush his teeth.

Loz simply glared daggers at him. Then his broad shoulders slumped in defeat and he grumpily prepared himself for his hated task, hot water rushing into the sink.

Sephiroth watched him for just another moment, before he shook his head and left the kitchen to plop down on the couch. In the background, the TV still mutely declared Yazoo´s victory, but Sephiroth didn't look.

*

Twenty minutes later, Kadaj shuffled down the stairs on bare feet, dressed up in his favourite pyjamas, his giraffe he hadn't named yet stuck under his arm. He waddled into the living room on the tip of his toes, like a lion stalking his prey. Sephiroth was lying on his back, hands under his head, eyes closed. Perfect...

With a predatory smile, Kadaj prepared for the attack, bracing his giraffe and then leaping forward to land on his brother´s belly with a war cry.

He unexpectedly was caught midway by strong hands, though, and before Kadaj could even blink, he was a laughing, pleading mess as Sephiroth tickled the hell out of him with a victorious smirk.

"S-stop!!! P-please, I su-surrender!!!" Kadaj curled into a hitching, giggling ball, trying to fend off his brother´s merciless fingers that tackled his sides till the smallest was afraid he´d just pee himself. The elder stopped with a sigh and relaxed back into his former position on the sofa, looking down at Kadaj who was half lying on him, trying to catch his breath.

"Shouldn't you be in bed already?"

The giraffe had fallen onto the carpet, but was quickly snatched again.

"... Yeah, but I´m totally not tired yet." Kadaj shot his brother a long, suffering look, giving him the puppy eyes, while his little fingers pulled at his plushy´s plastic eyes. Now came the hardest part of his mission that would decide whether he would succeed or be brutally crushed. "...But if you´d tell me a bedtime story... I _might_ get sleepy." Kadaj lifted his brows, worrying his lips in anticipation.

"Is that so?" Sephiroth replied, mockingly mirroring Kadaj´s expression, before he gave a sigh, shifting his head into a tilted position. "Did you take your vitamins?"

"I did! They were yummy!" Kadaj made an eager face that would hopefully convince Sephiroth that he had been a good boy and deserved a wonderful, long bedtime story.

Sephiroth still didn't look too enthusiastic.

"Can´t Yazoo or Loz read you something?"

"No," Kadaj darkly rejected with utter conviction. If Loz started telling a story, they wouldn't get past the point of him describing the princess in every detail, especially her cup size and how perfect and pure and lovely she was, and Kadaj would die of boredom. And if Yazoo told him anything, Kadaj would usually wake up in the middle of the night, shakily checking under his bed if there weren't any monsters hiding to gnaw at his baby fingers.

"Fine then," Sephiroth sighed, lifting his brother up to take him piggy back, but declaring over his shoulder, "One story, and then you´ll go to sleep without further ado, understood?"

Kadaj drew his little arms around Sephiroth´s neck, pressing his cheek against cool, long silver hair and gave an eager nod, his pink mouth forming a tiny 'O', as he absently yawned.

Tbc

* * *

Aeriths-Rain: Haha, well, I suppose technically it wasn´t so bad, that talk, but Vincent might feel highly uncomfortable about such topics XD Hehe, imagine the boys with a skirt and high ponytails XD I think they´re fine being boys, haha.

Soyna: I think Vincent had hoped to avoid the topic alltogether, but seeing what come of it he had no choice but to face them head on XD Now we´ll have to see if it helped anything at all^^

AlexJ69: Haha, yay, reviews!!! *lush eyelash flutter* I´m glad you liked it, poor banana indeed!

I think Vincent isn´t really prude, he just feels uncomfortable about the idea of his sweet little innocent babies having sex (even without each other). And I got delicious chocolate for easter XD What about you?

Shiva Rajah: Haha, I´m glad you enjoyed it, thank you! *revives quickly*

Psycho Steph: Yeah, banana and condom, the two classics XD I don´t think anyone took that serious, accept Vincent, poor thing^^ Haha, now I so want Vincent to educate me as well, I bet his face´d be as red as his cape XD And yesh, Vincent is equipped with books, beware! And let´s see how far that´ll get him ;)

natzilla: You evil, evil alien! I can´t believe you´d put the two in an orphanage :O On the other hand... after that terrifying sex talk, Yazoo and Seph might not have minded at all XD I think maybe Seph and Yaz did learn it your way... and by DIY of course ;)

Madisuzy: Haha, thank you! It was a bit cliché, but I had fun (even though vince, seph and yaz hadn´t XD). He had to demonstrate it to them somehow, didn´t he? *hugs poor traumatized Vinny*

PoppetlurvesZexion: You summed it up perfectly XD Vincent doesn´t seem much of a great help, does he? XD I suppose there´s just things he doesn´t want to know about his kids, though otherwise he is interested in them and does love them. This was just too awkward XD

oztan: Oh no, I didn´t mean that! I just meant that we will see more of how the boys interact together, no worries XD

**Review pease? ^___^**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey there again, here´s chapter 7! Many many thanks for all the lovely reviews, and special kudos to my wonderful beta AlexJ69!!!**

**There´s smut, be warned ;)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7

Fifteen minutes later Kadaj was sound asleep, even before Sephiroth had come to the point of how the three bears had found Goldilocks in one of their beds. Pulling the blanket over the softly breathing form, Sephiroth stood, only leaning the door on so a little stripe of light would guide the boy to the corridor in case he woke up at night and needed to pee.

Since Sephiroth was the oldest, it was his responsibility to make sure that his brothers were in bed at the proper time and he took this task very serious. He did love his family, even though they got on his nerves from time to time (especially recently) and he felt a strong need to protect them. And lately he was confused and torn, a lot.

Loz´ door was already closed and Sephiroth knew better than to disturb him. Their rooms were mostly open during the day, welcoming everyone to enter if they felt like it, unless either one of them wanted some privacy and this was silently respected then, most of the time. Even Kadaj had learned to knock first, before he attacked them with one of his silly questions that seemed to spontaneously pop up in his head at every possible and impossible moment.

Yazoo´s door was slightly ajar, the cold, blue light of the computer screen creating an eerie atmosphere that threatened to suck the elder in. Leaning his head against the frame, Sephiroth peeked inside, spotting his brother´s hunched back in front of the monitor.

"Time to go to bed," he announced, pushing himself inside, arms crossed over his chest. Yazoo looked back at him over his shoulder, and then simply pushed the off-button, the computer flickering one last time before only its constant, low humming remained. Yazoo never turned off the computer entirely; it ran 24/7 for his various downloads and program installations, its mechanic brain never sleeping, always calculating.

Slowly, the younger swirled around on his chair to face his brother, getting up and stretching his lithe body, the white t-shirt rippling up a bit and revealing half of his taut belly, pierced by a hollow, slitted navel.

It didn't fail to draw Sephiroth´s attention, but he forced himself to look back into his brother´s face. Yazoo was already in his pyjamas, long hair still damp and dark from the earlier shower. It clung to his back and exuded just the faintest odour of coconut shampoo as he obediently walked over the fuzzy carpet into bed, slipping under the covers and expectantly tilting his head at the older.

"Are you not coming?"

Sephiroth eyed the empty place beside the teenager that was more or less a blurred spot in the darkness with apprehension. There wasn't much light in here; only some rays from the street lamp outside spilled through the blinds, casting a stripped pattern onto the floor and walls. Somewhere to his left, the blind, yellow eye of the computer lazily blinked.

Usually the invitation wasn't needed; this was the time where Sephiroth would walk over, claim the bed with smooth, predatory movements. He´d pin Yazoo to the mattress, his long hair falling around them like a soft blanket, and Yazoo would smirk up at him with excitement sparkling in his hooded eyes. This game was still pretty new to them, they hadn't done it that often yet, but it was the most pleasurable and fun. They knew it was forbidden, and that made it all the more exhilarating...

Sephiroth´d start with grinding his groin against the thin fabric that covered their young, hard bodies and Yazoo would answer with bucking up his hips, meeting his brother´s slow, sensual movements. Their lips´d seek each other out, softly brushing against the other´s, till they´d part and slippery, wet tongues met with pink gums and damp teeth.

Warm, rushed breathing would ghost over their flushed skin and fill the quiet, dark room. They had to be silent, with their brothers and sometimes parents sleeping only a few rooms away and their delighted laughs were breathless and muffled, their deft fingers curious and bold, playing with goose bump covered flesh and hard, rosy nipples.

Yazoo´s fingers would glide up and down Sephiroth´s arched back, fumbling with his pyjamas or T-shirt, searching for a way underneath. Sometimes the elder wouldn't wear anything but his sleeping pants anyway, so Yazoo´s fingertips would stroke over a prominent spine, rips wrapped in smooth muscles, and cool silken hair. Sephiroth´d trace Yazoo´s sides, kissing his way down his younger brother´s willingly exposed throat and neck, his tongue dipping into the dent between his collarbone, before wandering down to flick over an erect nub. That usually made Yazoo arch into his tender touches and pull down the older boy´s dark, woollen pants over his firm buttocks and his hard erection.

"Get up," Sephiroth´d whisper close to Yazoo´s ear, smell his clean, soapy scent, lick that delicate shell and feel the body underneath him brim and tremble with want and delight. As the younger´d move his pelvis up, intentionally pressing his groin against Sephiroth´s warm, pulsing penis, Sephiroth´d get rid of Yazoo´s pants too, and the unbuttoned shirt, maybe. It wouldn't really matter, they´d be a sweating, heaving mess of limbs and sheets and clothes rubbing together in a frantic, sneaky rhythm.

Sephiroth´d feel his rapid heartbeat pound in his ears, drumming in his chest, belly and his hard flesh that would stroke against Yazoo´s slippery dick until the tension was unbearable. Depending on how patient they were they´d just come like this, their balls gliding against each other as Sephiroth grabbed their cocks and pulled them together in a firm grip. He´d bury his face in the nape of Yazoo´s neck, biting down into the tender flesh to stifle the moans that fell from his lips as he tugged harder until they were covered in a white, creamy substance that stained their bellies.

When they had more time and felt like it, Sephiroth´d place a quick kiss on Yazoo´s swollen lips and reach under the mattress where they had hidden a tube of lubricant (Yazoo had ordered it from the internet, he was good with stuff like that, creating false accounts and whatnot – no sex shop would let them through the door and really, this way it was much easier).

He´d squeeze a generous amount of the cool, slick fluid into his hand before carelessly brushing the tube aside where it´d get buried under the sheets or just tumble of the mattress and fall onto the fuzzy carpet. If they were in Sephiroth´s room cool, kohl rimmed eyes of various corpse painted Black Metal bands would witness their actions with aloof indifference out of their 2 dimensional posters. Sometimes they´d even provide the soundtrack, sepulchering low moans and excited hisses under thundering layers of freezing guitars, screeching, hateful vocals that sounded more like the agonized cries of a slaughtered pig than a human voice. They´d also muffle the uncomfortable groan Yazoo´d give when cold, slick fingers entered him. Sephiroth was always careful, but still it did feel weird and the elder´d try to ease the younger´s discomfort with kisses and strokes while he prepared him.

He hadn't yet mastered the task of finding Yazoo´s prostate on the first try and awkwardly poked inside the tight channel until Yazoo´d arch up with a delicious moan. Once that difficult part was overcome Sephiroth´s brother was quite demanding on what he wanted to have done next, and Sephiroth did comply. He had no idea how it felt to have stuff inside him, so he trusted Yazoo´s guidance; his brother knew what he liked, and it did please Sephiroth as well, so it was a clear win-win situation for the both of them.

When Yazoo impatiently drew his arms around Sephiroth´s neck, whispering that he was ready now, stroking some hair out of the elder´s pale face, Sephiroth´d withdraw his fingers, slowly and carefully. They´d shuffle a bit on the bed until Sephiroth was seated between Yazoo´s spread legs that were tightly wrapped around his waist.

Taking a deep breath, Sephiroth´d press the tip of his red cock against the tiny entrance, pushing until the loosened muscle gave way and swallowed him almost hungrily. Once he was inside, Sephiroth´d wait for Yazoo to adjust, and as soon as the boy underneath him´d impatiently wriggle, the elder glided in deeper. They´d swallow each other´s moans with another messy, wet kiss that sometimes lasted till the whole act was over. Yazoo´d cling to Sephiroth, pushing against the hard thing inside him that brushed slowly over that bundle of nerves that sent spark right into his dizzy, swirling brain. Later Sephiroth´s movements´d become clipped, sharp and almost brutal, frantic and relentless, but at that point neither of them would care anymore; they were at a place where they weren't even aware of their spastically moving bodies. There was only mind-numbing pleasure of the most feral and bone-shattering kind that shook their fragile souls to the core, and it felt right and unimaginable good until it became all too much and they´d explode into a mass of colourful sparks and tingling, shuddering tremors.

They´d stay in bed together until their movements stilled from the exhaustion, and Sephiroth´d pull out, and then they´d just lay there next to each other, mute and tired and happy. When Yazoo´d drift off into sleep shortly after, Sephiroth would usually free himself carefully from his brother´s embrace, roughly clean them up and go back to his own room with not even a trait of remorse looming over his satiated body and mind.

Today was not usual however.

Sephiroth´s feet strode over the floor nonetheless, though not as sure and determined as usually, and instead of laying down on the soft mattress, he just took place on the edge of the bed that was quickly freed for him. Yazoo had curled around him like a kitten, head propped on one hand, emerald eyes calm and still expectant, but Sephiroth was almost sure that he could detect a hint of growing wariness, deep down in there. These orbs were still clouded by a rather unquestioned trust, faith in Sephiroth knowing what he was doing and that Yazoo was in good hands. It was a heavy, weighty look that made the older boy unconsciously lift his shoulders a bit.

"That might not be such a good idea right now."

Yazoo´s head fell onto the pillow with a disappointed 'thud', sinking in deeply, his green eyes penetrating the ceiling instead now. Sephiroth gave in to the itching of his hand and stroked with his fingertips over some cool, damp strands of silver.

"I know..." Yazoo´s reply was carried by a tiny sigh, trying to sound understanding and mature, but Sephiroth wasn't fooled, especially since it wasn't exactly an easy decision for him to not seize the chance of their parents not being home. But it was too risky, and it reeked like a shallow trap; most likely Vincent and Lucrecia wouldn't be able to stay away from home for too long...

No matter how much they pretended to the boys and themselves that their relationship was still founded on trust, it was a cobweb thin string they were all balancing on right now, trying to reach each other. It didn't take much to make that bond snap and catapult them into chaos...

It was partly Sephiroth´s fault, he knew that, and it was frustrating. He hadn't chosen to feel the things he did, and _he_ wasn't to blame for the fact that Yazoo and he were related so closely by blood! If it was anyone's mistake it was the intolerant society that made their lives so hard and complicated and eyed them as if they were a sick, monstrous abominations for liking each other. Made them outcasts... They were still young and everyone was so quick on deciding that they just didn't know what they were doing, gracing them with the 'benefit of the doubt'.

Truth be told, Sephiroth _was_ confused. He didn't take their strange relationship for granted as Yazoo did. He did question what they were doing, what drew them to each other in that very not-brotherly way. Prior to the incident of being surprised by their parents, Sephiroth had decided that he didn't care about conventions and pursued their relationship, thinking that it was all right as long as they didn't get caught. Now that they _had_ been found out he was forced to re-evaluate his decision. Before last night Sephiroth hadn't been really aware of the consequences, the disappointment and the hurt he caused the other members of his family with his actions. Was it worth it? Quite frankly, he didn't know. He would need time to think about it, because there was a lot at stake here; not only his family, but his friends as well.

Angeal, Genesis and Zack most likely wouldn't understand.

"All right then, sleep well. I will see you tomorrow," Sephiroth finally muttered, leaning over to place a quick, innocent kiss onto Yazoo´s forehead. The boy closed his eyes and rolled over, his curled back facing the elder.

Suppressing a sigh, Sephiroth got up and left the room to finally get ready for bed himself, but it took him hours to finally drift into a restless sleep.

Tbc

* * *

Aeriths-Rain: Yesh, Kadaj is such a cutie indeed! I bet he can be pretty bratty too, but still it´s adorable and no one can stay mad at him for too long when he does the puppy eyes on them XD

Soyna: Haha, yeah, that chapter turned out surprisingly fluffy, I don´t know what happened O__o You bet Vincent didn´t enjoy the evening one bit XD But I guess Lucrecia was just as restless, she just hides it better^^ I think Yazoo´d pick the creepy fairy tales, those with all the slaughter and monsters, poor Kadaj XD

Madisuzy: Thanks! I like the boys together as a family, they are so adorable! Hm, Sephiroth was tempted, but he is a clever guy and careful now. Imagine what´d happen if they were caught again :O But I couldn´t resist inserting some smut anyways XD *hugs*

Psycho Steph: Yes, if Lucrecia wasn´t there Vincent probably wouldn´t look away for one second XD He´s so stressed, poor thing... But he needs to relax a bit. I think Seph has a soft spot for his littlest brother, though you bet they have awful fights as well! They are boys XD Hm, story time with Seph sounds very very tempting I must say, count me in!

Oztan: Yay, I´m glad you liked the chapter! I like that idea of mother-sons bonding, I will definitely do one of those! We haven´t seen much of Lucrecia yet, but we should^^

Sweetciel: Yes, Sephiroth can be sweet if he wants too XD I bet he can get pretty pissed off too, though, when Kadaj thinks he has to play around with Seph´s precious guitars again XDD Then Seph´s not a happy camper...

natzilla: Haha, I hoped you´d like it XD This story gets a bit inspired by all our talks about the brotherly side of the SHM, they are one happy family... sometimes XD When part of them doesn´t get caught by other part during screwing around *cough* Loz is a teenager, they are always hungry!

PoppetlurvesZexion: You´re manipulative? *high five* Me too XD A little bit... And thanks for pestering your friends to read it! *happy squeal* They are very welcome!!! And the yaoi´s here now too!

Kittencharmer: Hm, maybe you do read too much into the details, but I think not XD Sephiroth has a lot on his mind now, it can kind of drive away your appetite :)

Labe: Haha, I like your maths!!! Definitely, Sephiroth + Yazoo equals smut (at least in my own twisted little world). I think the banana just didn´t wanted to be squished in a condom XDD It was a bit too much pressure XD I´m not sure Kadaj would enjoy you squeezing his cheeks, he has his pride, you know ;) But I´d so do it too, anyways... Hm, this time Sephiroth didn´t take advantage, he´s wary of being caught again, I guess? We´ll see how they´ll do from now on ^^

danslalune27: Hey lovely reader! Yes, I have way too many fics going on, but I love writing XD I so want them under my roof, all together, though I´d need a way bigger place! I think all of them are bright in their own ways, they have their special talents and compliment each other perfectly. Kadaj is... 9ish, I think XD I gotta check, good question! I will get back to you about that XD Love your new icon btw!

**Review please! ^__^**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey there, new chapter (thanks to me being a procrastinator -__- Other people start cleaning to avoid studying and I write...). Before we start I quickly want to put up a recommendation: If you like the SHM and their little dysfunctional family you should take a look at BoomChick´s fic 'A brutal teacher'.**

http://www . fanfiction . net/s/5709508/1/ (Take out spaces please ^__^)

**Another thing: I finally sat down and figured out how old the boys are XD (Yeah, it´s a little late, but better now than never, right?) Okies, here goes!**

Vincent: 33

Sephiroth: 16

Angeal: 16

Genesis: 16

Loz: 15

Zack: 15

Yazoo: 14

Cloud: 14

Kadaj: 6

(Lucrecia: 32)

**Many many thanks to my wonderful beta AlexJ69!!! (COLOUUUUUUUUUUUUR!!!!!)**

**And now finally, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 8

*

_A careful knock against the light wooden bathroom door._

"_Yes?" Yazoo tilted his head, looking over from the steaming tub where he was buried in soft, warm bubbles that lazily swirled through the air, exploding into tiny rainbow showers._

_Sephiroth peeked inside the dimly lit room, pushing aside the green bathrobe that dangled from a hook on the door, threatening to obscure his vision. The air in here was thick and damp, and the cream coloured tiles glistened moistly. Their mother had a thing for Mediterranean style, and so the bathroom looked right out of an Italian designer catalogue with earth-tones and discreet stone-ornaments. The boys had added their own note, because the bathroom was actually quite messy under all that warm elegance. All four of them fought regular, fierce battles for the room (their parents had a shower of their own, which was a relief at least), and therefore it was littered with towels, hair brushes and various items that piled up on the floor, roughly pushed into a corner. The sink was blotched with crusted toothpaste and the damp mirror was painted with many layers of smileys and desperate reminders of 'wash me!' their mom had not so subtly left with her forefinger, but it went professionally ignored. The boys were in charge of cleaning their quarters on their own and they were pretty comfortable with their 'creative chaos'._

_The warm aroma of wet skin, toiletries, bathing oil and detergents hit Sephiroth´s nose and he took a deep breath. He rather liked that smell._

"_Do you need some help?"_

_Yazoo awkwardly held up his left arm that was wrapped in a thick cast, covered in messy writings and paintings of good wishes to get better soon. Water marks darkened the formerly white plaster despite his obvious efforts to not get it wet._

"_Sure."_

_Sephiroth stepped inside on bare feet, closing the door behind him with a soft click, and walked through the small lake on the floor towards the tub. The hems of his grey pants were instantly soaked, becoming anthracite and spotty. Outside a fat moth bumped against the closed window._

"_I can´t reach my back," Yazoo informed his brother with a quick demonstration of his good arm twisting and grabbing thin air behind his arched spine._

"_I can see that." With a smirk, Sephiroth crouched down beside the tub, reaching for a soft, tomato shaped sponge that sported a huge, printed smile, and pressed it under water. His fingers bumped against Yazoo´s smooth leg. The boy stretched it, lazily blinking._

"_I need you to lean forward," Sephiroth muttered, withdrawing the sponge from the pleasantly warm water, a mountain of foam sitting on the back of his curled hand. Obediently, Yazoo leaned forward, exposing his wet back. He closed his eyes at the contact of the sponge rubbing over his sensitive skin, giving a content sigh. "How´s it going? Did you finish that song? Is Gen still here?"_

_Sephiroth´s green orbs briefly shifted from his task towards Yazoo´s pleased expression, before they turned back, his callused fingertips brushing over the boy´s spine just lightly._

"_He left a few minutes ago. We didn´t finish it yet, there´s some issues with the lyrics." His unnerved eyeroll made Yazoo chuckle, a pleasant purr deep down in his throat. Genesis __**always**__ had issues with the lyrics, even though he wrote them himself. It was a wonder Angeal, Zack and Sephiroth put up with it, but they had developed the patience of saints during all their years dealing with their slightly over dramatic friend. Yazoo found that rather amusing it seemed and upon closer inspection it probably was, Sephiroth decided. Relaxing his stiff muscles a bit (playing the same song over and over again so Genesis Rhapsodos could catch 'the right flow' was tiring and a bit frustrating), Sephiroth slipped into a sitting position on the floor, his elbow leaning on the cool rim of the tub._

"_Will you let me hear it when it is done?"_

"_Of course." The tomato sponge named Fred, curtsy to Kadaj, who -in a strange phase- had named just about anything that vaguely resembled a face, vanished in the bubble mountains again, gliding along Yazoo´s side. The boy flinched a bit, but his eyes remained closed._

"_Sorry."_

"_´S allright," was the muffled reply that sounded suspiciously sleepy and caused the elder to lift a brow, before he let go of Fred and mischievously brushed over his brother´s ticklish sides. It caused just the desired effect; Yazoo jumped with a yelp, but -and this certainly wasn´t intended- lost his balance. Quick-witted, Sephiroth got up to catch him before he could drown in the fluffy foam clouds._

"_Ah, hang in there!"_

_Yazoo did just that, clinging to his brother´s neck, his cast rubbing against Sephiroth´s long silky hair. A whole storm of bubbles was swirling around them, settling back onto the tub and their entangled bodies like the first fall of snow on a cool winter night. Just that it was very hot in here, all of a sudden..._

_Sephiroth felt the need to lick his lips, but their faces (lips) were too close to each other. A dry gulp would have to do, he thought, but his throat just wouldn´t comply. His body was frozen, hypnotized and mesmerized by the incredibly huge eyes that expectantly looked into his own, and then the distance between them melted somehow and the next thing Sephiroth knew his lips connected with equally soft ones._

_When his eyes opened, the foam flakes had long settled again, and the sweet taste of Yazoo was tingling on the tip of his tongue._

_And that had been the beginning of their downfall._

_*_

Sephiroth was woken by a hand softly stroking some silver strands out of his sleep relaxed face. He sighed, moved under the blankets and drew his brows together, turning away.

Lucrecia couldn´t help the smile that stole itself onto her lips, and she gently shook her oldest son´s shoulder.

"Wake up dear, it´s time."

The first rays of sun light were filtering through the grey blinds that hid the spotty glass of the window and the suburb slowly waking up from its deep slumber outside. The first birds chirped in the cherry trees outside and the sun was lazily moving its round orange belly over the bright, rosy sky. The first cars moved down the streets, heading to neat office buildings and jobs full of conferences and paper work that would pay for the beautiful houses and tidy gardens surrounding their own home.

Unconsciously, Lucrecia´s hand sneaked up to re-arrange the collar of her crème coloured chemise. She was showered and ready for work, and after she had gone over the difficult task of waking her notoriously sleep deprived children for school she would go down into the kitchen to get a nice cup of steaming, black coffee and have a bite of the breakfast Vincent was preparing for his family right now. A brief look at her watch told the beautiful woman that they may had to skip the boys´ breakfast this morning, they were already running late - like almost every Monday morning. It was the kids own fault for staying up so late during the weekends, so Lucrecia had no mercy with them. Yesterday had been an exception, though, because when they had come home quite early their sons had been asleep already (neither of them had been able to enjoy the party and after two hours of boring small talk and forced smiles they had left in silent understanding. Not that they had wanted to check on their boys, not at all. The party simply had been boring. Right. Just a boring party.).

Sephiroth gave an unhappy groan and rolled away from her, pulling the blanket over his dishevelled head.

Lucrecia sighed, and relentlessly pulled the warm blanket away, leaving her son´s curled, half naked body exposed to the chilling morning air.

"Get up, or the bathroom will be occupied."

That did the trick -as always- and Sephiroth sluggishly sat up. His face was hidden by a ridiculously long curtain of silver and Lucrecia envied him once again for his amazing genes he certainly hadn´t inherited from her. Her hair was mousy and thin if she didn´t put tons of hair care products and dye in it.

After he had taken a moment to come to his senses, Sephiroth drew his long legs over the edge of the bed and wordlessly waddled towards the bathroom. To Lucrecia he pretty much looked like one of the brainless zombies from the horror movies that he and his two younger brothers liked to watch. Well, he wasn´t known to be a morning person and she didn´t hold it against him. This was a trait he certainly had gotten from Vincent as well.

As she couldn´t resist the urge to quickly straighten out his blanket, she had to force her eyes away from the pile of dirty clothes towering next to Sephiroth´s overflowing desk because they silently begged her to be washed - but she_ so_ wouldn´t. The boys had to take care of their own stuff, because if she started to mother them she would never see the end of it! And if he felt comfortable buried nose deep in stinking band shirts, flakes of dust, guitar strings and crumbled song notes Lucrecia would be the last person to take that happiness away from her oldest.

Closing the door behind her, she went down the corridor past family pictures that were decorating the wall and some paintings her sons had drawn for either her or Vincent when they still hadn´t been too cool for such tasks. One photograph that Lucrecia was particularly fond of was already bleached out; the tones were only a shadow of their former brilliance but somehow it didn´t matter because the image in itself was still so very powerful and brimming with energy! Now it was protected by a pistachio shaded wooden frame and thick glass and it still depicted a sun flooded forest. Big, fresh green firs divided the rays of gold into blinding beams that rained down on her husband, who was wearing kaki pants and a red striped shirt. His wild hair was held back by a bandanna as he stomped over the mossy, stony forest ground. Kadaj was safely nestled in the baby sling that hung over Vincent´s back and had curiously woven his tiny fingers into dark raven strands. He must have been younger than a year, it was their first trip together with the baby...

On his right hand, Lucrecia´s hiking husband held a 7 year old Yazoo, who was busy daydreaming and trying to not trip over his own little feet. The boy´s gaze was glued to the dusty strings of light that filtered through the canopy and he gaped at them with his head craned back and his mouth open, lost in his own world full of mysteries and fairy tales.

Apparently Vincent was busy consoling Loz, whose eyes and nose were a bit red. If Lucrecia remembered correctly, her second oldest had tripped over a root just a few minutes prior and scraped his knee. In the picture it was already treated with a band-aid, littered with tiny blue and yellow cars.

Sephiroth was marching ahead, pointing at something that was cut out of the picture and he looked back at the rest of the group back, saying something to Vincent. His hair was already pretty long, reaching the small of his back, and his hand held a freshly made hiking stick that Vincent had carved for him out of a pine branch with a pocket knife. The 9 year old wore it proudly, Lucrecia could tell.

It had been a perfect moment, and she had been lucky to catch all her boys with the camera...

There were other pictures of their children, pictures that had been hanging on this wall forever, that were so much a part of her morning routine that she didn´t even see them anymore; they somewhat faded into the wall as if daily life had eaten them and they were contently seated in the belly of time. Today however, Lucrecia´s eyes involuntarily got caught by an irregularity that hadn´t been there before; or rather, it hadn´t been outstanding before. But this morning it stuck out of the wall like a sore nail.

It was another framed photograph that primarily showed two silver heads beaming into the camera, namely Sephiroth as a four year old with his arms tightly wrapped around Yazoo´s neck. He was pressing a kiss to the younger boy´s cheek with his eyes closed. Yazoo seemed to be busy with something else, as his eyes were cast down on something that the camera hadn´t caught, but he was laughing and tilting his head, maybe to present his chubby, rosy cheek to his brother.

Lucrecia´s eyes stumbled over the familiar and yet alien picture for only a second. Then she bruskely pushed the memories of two nights ago aside and the photograph melted back into their orderly, innocent and harmonic past.

Kadaj was coming out of his room just now, heartily yawning, and dragging one of his plushies behind him over the carpet. He had gotten into school only a few weeks ago and was still pretty excited, so his mother didn´t have to deal with him at least. As he walked past her, Kadaj briefly drew his arms around her waist and buried his nose in her grey silken skirt, before he yawned again and continued his journey to the bath room. Down the hall a painful shrill ripped the morning apart, followed by an unnerved grunt and a muffled curse. Awesome, so Loz was awake too.

And surely, a few minutes later the door to the second oldest´s room was roughly shoved open and Loz passed her with a grumpy "Mornin'."

"Good morning," Lucrecia laughed, before she entered Yazoo´s dark room. The low humming of the computer greeted her, and she silently shook her head. How could he sleep with that constant, annoying sound?! She´d go crazy in no time!

"Yazoo, time to get up."

The teenager in question was still tucked in, awaiting her with a long, suffering look, his nose just sticking out over the sheets.

"My belly hurts....................................................... I think I have pancreatitis."

Lucrecia gave deep sigh, but walked over to sit on the edge of his bed anyway. Pancreatitis? Now that was a first. Usually it was a cestoda, medulloblastoma or _at least_ a gastro-enteritis.

"Yazoo, what did I tell you about randomly searching the internet for illnesses you don´t have just to pretend you´re sick enough to avoid your English class?"

For a moment the boy kept his pain stricken act up, until he pouted his lower lip out and routinely droned "I shan´t do it, because when I really have something no one will believe me." But just for good measure, he petulantly added with a slightly cool look "It really hurts."

If they hadn´t had this particular conversation almost every Monday morning since school had started again, Lucrecia might have melted under his skilled, pleading look, but she remained strict. "Get out of bed darling, you don´t want your brothers to be late, do you?"

"........No."

It wasn´t said with as much conviction as Lucrecia would have liked, but still Yazoo wriggled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom with a passionately muttered "I _hate_ English."

Shaking her pretty head, Lucrecia got up from the squeaking mattress to check on her husband downstairs and help prepare the lunch boxes for their children.

Tbc

* * *

**Review replies:**

Psycho Steph: Thanks! I added the flashback scenes last minute XD Yes, exactly, Sephiroth never had to thing about the consequences before, so they just did it because it felt good. And now he is a bit stuck XD Yazoo either still isn´t aware of the consequences or he really doesn´t care... We´ll see about that XD

Labe: Haha, yeah, Seph is a tough guy indeed XD Hm, and I suspect that Yazoo is simply a bit spoiled; Sephiroth s the older brother and always takes care of everything, so Yazoo might expect him to deal with this problem as well XD But he doesn´t see how much pressure Seph is under now :(

Natzilla: Yeah XD Seph is a bit snappy when it comes to his parents, but that´s only the hormones XD You know, incest is very practical indeed! You don´t have to bother with all the getting-to-know-a-potential-partner-rites and whatnot! Of course your brother would have to be good-looking, otherwise it´s not very aesthetic *cough* There is nothing wrong with incest, it´s all that biological blablabla, but really, as if 'normal' parents couldn´t have disabled kids as well T__T And if it´s two brothers there shouldn´t even be these qualms *shrugs* Haha, and that is the phrase my mother used when she first heard me listening to Burzum XDDD Hm, we´ll see about the vacation ;)

oztan: Ah yes, Sephiroth doesn´t take this lightly, he is a thoughtful, responsible kid, but he does have conflicting interests he has to figure out ;) Uhm, I don´t know anything about Noct, I just saw a trailer once, but he seemed yummy! We´ll see where it goes ;)

PoppetlurvesZexion: Haha, you threw a yogurt at your teacher?! How come??? Hehe, we´ll see about the fun *rubs hands*

AlexJ69: Gahaha, I love smut warning too XDD And it is only there thanks to Zack getting a spanking, that was very inspiring ;) Hm, I think Sephiroth was just brutally jerked back into reality wen they got caught; he might not have thought much about it before... Honestly, I think there´s no one/ nothing Seph can´t top :D You can´t force your socks to love each other! Though you may try... XD

Anne Voda Hime: We will meet all their friends in the next chapter! Sephiroth will have to make a decision sooner or later I suppose, Yazoo will want to know what is going on – either way, I sniff drama ;) Yes, after re-reading the chapter I noticed that there was a bit much 'd, so this chapter the flashback/dream is italicized and hopefully it is easier to read^^ Thanks for pointing that out!

BoomChick: Haha, too bad no one ever listens to us! I so want Vincent to be supportive and all, but realistically speaking he wouldn´t. There´s too much prejudices and moral qualms for him to just accept it :( And no worries, I´m glad you joined and enjoy!!! (I know I´m horrible, I write too much stuff __ I can hardly keep track myself).

Danslalune27: Thank you! Yes, I am trying to keep it realistic XD Which is why Vincent is outraged instead of being supportive and joining the fun (which would be incredibly awesome as well, but uhm... *braindead*). I think Yazoo is both: young, oblivious and he doesn´t give a damn XD Being the youngest child until Kadaj was born he might have been pampered and shielded by his brothers, so he doesn´t really know how to worry about anything. He has his own code and trusts that Seph´ll take care of everything... We´ll see how long this´ll work XD

**Review please? I has cookies!!! *offers***


	9. Chapter 9

**Har, I´m on a roll with this one XD I think it´s because of the weather; it´s all sunny and bright and blah and I suffer from a serotonin overdose and go all fluffy and whatnot! This fic is my happy place, so to speak ;) Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and many many thanks to alexJ69 for the terrific betaing!**

* * *

Chapter 9

Since they were so late already Vincent agreed to drop the boys of at school. Once they all were safely stuffed in the minivan, Loz, Kadaj and Yazoo occupying the backseat and Sephiroth sitting beside his father in the passenger seat, the dark green vehicle rolled out of the garage and lined up on the street.

It was pretty quiet during the trip, because all of them were still pretty tired or lost in their own thoughts; only the radio was buzzing with the depressing news and some sticky pop songs no one paid attention too. Kadaj had snuggled into his cozy seat in between Loz and Yazoo and couldn´t decide whether he wanted to fall asleep again or be nervous and excited about another day in school. It was still all so new to him, and he felt rather mature and important now that he had joined the educational system! Besides, he couldn´t wait to meet his new friends, or friend rather. Yuffie would hopefully wait for him at the entrance, so they could go to the class room together.

Critically, the boy inspected his school uniform again to make sure that he wore it properly. His red jacket with the elaborate school crest was a bit too big for him, but the hems of the shirt he wore underneath were achingly white and as stiff as the back of his math teacher. His black tie was perfectly nestled between his collar and the triangle where his jacket was buttoned. Fairly satisfied, Kadaj adjusted his backpack (printed all over with moogles) on his knees, careful to not ruffle the perfect crease of his black pants.

Loz had his eyes closed, but wasn´t sleeping; he simply didn´t want to talk and hoped that he was left alone if he pretended to nap. In his mind he was still sorting out a math problem that had brought him close to a mental breakdown during the weekend, and he just hoped he had it done right. Well, Tifa´d know, she was the smartest girl in his class, but he didn´t want to appear stupid to her, so he had wrecked his brain to get it right!

On the other side of the backseat, Yazoo had leaned his head against the cool glass of the window and observed the sun bathed houses rush by. Yellow street signs were offering them certain roads to different destinations, like the hospital, the city hall, ShinRa company (where most of the cars went, because Shinra was the biggest employer far and wide). They took a turn to the left, following the street down to the ShinRa private school. It was a restored, beautiful building that resembled a Scottish castle more than a school, with its wide, immaculate parks and the many side buildings. They were rather privileged to go there. Not everyone made it through the entrance exam, that was reserved for the children of Shinra employees anyway. Yazoo suspected that it was a tactical move; this way ShinRa made sure that the talented, new potentials would stick with the firm. ShinRa even funded a very well-respected and renowned college. Yazoo didn´t give a damn about elites and career ladders as long as it meant that he could escape English poetry, but sadly no one listened to him and so he was doomed to walk the path down to hell all by himself.

In the passenger seat, Sephiroth was busy avoiding his father´s scorching gaze. No matter what the man had said, he had his eyes on them now, especially on his oldest. Sephiroth pretended to ignore it and unblinkingly stared out of the window. He was in an abysmal mood (too little sleep and a broken hair dryer never mixed well) and ready to snap at anyone and everything that presented him with an opportunity. Even the bright, warm sunlight, the blossoming trees flanking the streets and the generally happy and summery atmosphere did nothing to suck the dark thoughts out of his brooding brain.

Vincent took the last turn and pulled to the side walk just behind the red school bus (red was ShinRa´s color). In the rear view mirror he could see Kadaj already impatiently reach over Yazoo´s unwilling figure to tear at the handle. In between he looked up to hectically wave at a little girl with pigtails who jumped up and down, a little imperiously giving him signs to hurry up. Obviously she didn´t give a damn about the annoyed hisses from the other students that got attacked by her flailing arms.

"Very well, here we are," Vincent announced over the sound of opening doors and the infiltrating noises of laughing and screaming students, the rumbling engines of other cars around them that spit out more children and the bell giving a warning ring that classes would start soon. Vincent had to raise his voice to not get drowned out. "Behave and when you come home don´t forget to do the chores that your mother pinned to the fridge."

He received a few disinterested "Sure Dad, have a nice day," and then he was all alone in his once again silent car. Vincent stared after his boys until they weaved into the various networks of red-uniformed students walking and talking in groups. Then he turned the radio louder and set the blinker to join the streets that all inevitably led to ShinRa.

The high hallways were littered with students, and soon the group of brothers had to split. Kadaj had been totally busy with Yuffie anyway, and they had parted to go to another building quite some time ago. The elementary school was right beside the high school, which was rather practical. Or not, depending on if one enjoyed being pestered every single break by Kadaj´s endless questions about this and that...

Loz was eager to get to his class, because he had to discuss his homework with Tifa, and hopefully impress her, so he quickly waved at his remaining two brothers and rushed up the stairs to the second floor.

Sephiroth was cranky and glared his path through the crowd that quickly stepped aside to make room for his regal and obviously pissed person, and neither side questioned the automatic reaction. Sephiroth was a star student, adored and worshiped, and he enjoyed certain privileges as well as a ridiculous amount of attention. Certainly it had its good sides, but right then he could have done very well without all the curious stares and the not so subtle whispers behind his back. All their expectations and admiration was getting incredibly on his nerves right now; he didn´t want to be stared at, feeling their too curious eyes crawl over his face and into his skull like over eager insect wanting to stuff themselves with his innermost secrets. He wanted the center of attention to shift from himself to someone else (but as always Genesis was nowhere near when one needed him _for once_!). All Sephiroth craved was to find a secluded, dark corner where he could curl up and take a long, restful nap.

As he kept plowing through the masses of students to get to the gym he faintly wondered how they would look at him if they knew that he was fucking his little brother on a regular basis. Full, unusual hard lips twitched up into a caustic sneer and the adorning, flirtatious looks and rosy blushes that flanked Sephiroth´s way were ignored with even more vehemency and coldness than usual.

Behind him, Yazoo shuffled along until their ways parted. The younger had something to take care of and wordlessly vanished behind a green door with a rudimentary black figure that was supposed to depict a boy but really was just a circle on a quadratic rump. Inside it was pretty empty, the only other occupant just left as Yazoo entered.

The boy wrinkled his nose at the pungent stench of artificial lemon and sharp detergents seeping underneath. There was also the faint odor of relatively fresh paint that had been applied to the formerly smeared stalls the students had decorated with their own 'art' and little wisdoms that were erased during summer break. Now the walls were clean and invited to get painted and scribbled all over again.

Yazoo paid the clean sinks and the sparkling mirrors no mind as he walked over the green tiles to the last stall, which was also the only one to be closed. After another moment to make sure that he was still alone, the boy raised his hand and hit the closed door with his knuckle three times in a row, made a pause and knocked again.

Instantly the door was pulled open, a red shock of messy hair shot out to have a routinized, quick look around and then Yazoo was roughly shoved into the stall, the door closing again with a bang.

"You´re damn late, yo! I was about to just leave you here." Reno poked his pointy finger against Yazoo´s chest with an accusing look, before his expression eased into nonchalant inquiring. "Do you have it?"

Yazoo morosely straightened his ruffled uniform, but then reached for his backpack to slide it to his belly and open it. After a moment of concentrated searching he finally summoned a bland looking CD in a thin case that didn´t fail to elicit a greedy sparkling from the redhead´s ice blue eyes. Reno was about to snatch it out of Yazoo´s slender hand, when the silver haired boy quickly withdrew the item, holding it over his shoulder and away from Reno.

"Where´s my payment?"

"Yeah, yeah, don´t get your pants wet yo." Grumpily, Reno searched his own backpack, which took a lot longer and provided an unwanted insight into the chaotic inner life of his rucksack. A half eaten sandwich was openly flying around, spilling crumbs onto ruffled school books and notebooks that had clearly seen better days and were stained with indefinable spots and creative little paintings.

Finally Reno held up a ragged piece of paper, triumphantly trusting it into the blinking teenager´s free hand.

"There you go. Now I want my porn."

Yazoo suspiciously ogled the crunched, striped paper and Reno seized the opportunity to snatch the CD out of his hand. "Good luck with that, yo!" he grinned and then he was out of the stall, happily whistling a vaguely popular pop song.

Sighing in resignation, Yazoo shouldered his bag again and left the unused toilet as well, just to bump into a broad chest blocking his way.

"Sorry," the boy mumbled, preparing to press himself past the other student, when said boy grabbed him by the arm and exclaimed, scandalized, "What have you been doing here?!"

Blankly, Yazoo stared up at one indignant Genesis Rhapsodos, before he looked back at the stall. "I took a piss...?"

The young man angrily huffed, imperiously crossing his arms over his chest. As always he was immaculately dressed and carried that incredibly dramatic aura around him that left other people little air to breathe. Yazoo was used to his antics already, but he didn´t feel exactly comfortable.

"Do not dare lie to me Yazoo Valentine, I heard _everything_," he declared sternly, before he held his hand out in demand. "I heard that redheaded friend of yours! Now, what mischief did you cook up in here?" His eyes narrowed dangerously, as he sniffed the air. "You didn´t trade cigarettes, did you?"

Yazoo simply shook his head and then finally handed out the piece of paper he had been clinging too. There was no messing with Genesis when he was on a self-declared mission, and Yazoo didn´t need a headache on top of his already miserable day.

Genesis importantly de-crumbled the note and held it between his hands, very close to his nose. His eyes narrowed further and his brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to decipher the messy handwriting that crawled over the dirty paper. Meanwhile Yazoo leaned against the tiled wall, waiting for all of this to be over.

"_Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet... and so are you._..?! What the_ heck_ is this?!" Genesis´earring sparkled in agitation as he waved the paper in front of Yazoo, looking a bit lost.

"...That´s for my English class. We were forced to write poetry...."

Genesis´ features went spectacularly blank, and his movements froze. The door briefly opened, but was quickly closed again with no one entering, because Genesis´ stiff, straight back alone must have conveyed his incredulity. When it came to the art of writing, Genesis believed himself to be an authority. It was his holy grail, the air he breathed, a matter of _life and death _and those _brats_ just had-

"Are you trying to tell me that you are trading _poetry_ for _porn_??!!"

Yazoo shifted, but held the other teenager´s gaze. Outside the bell rang again, ordering the students to go to their class rooms. Great, if he was late he´d have to read his 'self-made' creation for sure. Before he´d recite this note Yazoo would rather pretend to have forgotten about his homework though; he should have known that he couldn´trust Reno...

"Technically, this junk doesn´t really qualify as poetry, does it?" he pointed out, with a winning, hopeful smile that would have dazzled whole busloads of wrinkled grannies, but despite his old-fashioned views sometimes, Genesis was immune.

"That´s totally beside the point!"

The echo of the bell was still ringing in his ears though, so he just darkly waved his hand, stuffing the note into his pocket. "We will talk about this later, young man. Your brother will know what to do with you." It sounded like the worst threat ever, as Genesis´voice dropped to a menacing, low whisper and his eyes started to sparkle in a strange light. Yazoo suspected that the redheaded teenager had seen a bit too much of his favorite play again, judging by his over the top display. Or maybe he was just practicing a new role or whatever (since Genesis had started talking at the age of two he´d told everyone who couldn´t run fast enough that he wanted to become a grand actor or stage director and misused his friends as involuntary audience for his sudden creative outbursts).

Either way, Yazoo was just glad that he was let off the hook for now, and he sincerely doubted that he would get an earful from Sephiroth. It seemed that his brother was avoiding him wherever he could now; the morning had gone by without the elder saying a word to Yazoo. Even when Yazoo had asked for Sephiroth´s hair brush this morning -pretending that he couldn't find his own- the elder had just wordlessly handed it over, not even looking Yazoo in the eye...

Huffing, Genesis watched Yazoo shuffle out of the bath room (without his horrible 'poem').

Then he cast his eyes up to the mute, blank ceiling, giving a deep sigh and a resigned "_My friend, the fates are cruel, There are no dreams, no honor remains..._", before he turned on his heels and marched back into the almost empty corridor.

After a few turns in the empty hallways he slipped into the locker room last minute, making his way through chatting young men undressing and changing into their sports gear. Genesis originally had planned on changing in the bathroom, because he felt uncomfortable with so many people around him, which was just another well-known and accepted quirk of his, but then he had gotten distracted. Besides, he had important news to tell now!

Most of the boys were already in the gymnasium to warm up anyway, and so it was easy to find Angeal and Sephiroth sitting on a used, sweat soaked wooden bench between two rows of blue metal lockers. Since the weather was good they most likely would go outside to play soccer, which Genesis did not particularly enjoy. So he took his time to importantly lean against a locker, his sports bag hanging from his shoulders as his bright eyes observed how Sephiroth dealt with the laces of his new, white sneakers. Their sport´s wear was provided by ShinRa as well, and so they all wore the same red shirts with their names stitched right above their chests and the white, short pants. They were made of some nylon fabric and they felt smooth and light, but they also got dirty pretty quickly.

Since he was so absorbed by his own agitation, Genesis failed to notice the dark atmosphere swirling around Sephiroth and unwisely opened his mouth. "Guess what just happened to me in the bath ro-"

"Don´t." Sephiroth´s hands stopped knotting and his bangs trembled ever so slightly as his blazing, green eyes slowly crawled up to his friend like a poisonous insect with too many, too thin legs. "Don´t. Talk. To. Me! It´s all your fault!"

Angeal could only answer Genesis helpless, questioning gander with a shrug of his own. They all suffered the consequences of random hormonal attacks often enough to know that sometimes it was just better to shut up and wait till the storm that raged through their confused, raw bodies was over. And who would know that better than Genesis... It was unusual for Sephiroth to be so unreasonably snappy, but he might have his reasons, Angeal thought. Besides there was always some strange tension between his two friends; a pressing rivalry and competitiveness that had always been there. Angeal was the one to calmly watch over them and get them back down to earth when it became too much, as he was the calm and reasonable one of their _trio infernal_.

With another tiny shrug that was only meant for himself, Angeal got up from the bench and followed their retreating guitarist and left Genesis to hectically get dressed for a hopefully exhausting game of brutal, anger relieving soccer.

tbc?

* * *

**Review replies:**

**Natzilla:** Yay, thank you! The first version only had 1000 words or so, and then I thought that it was pretty lame so I started adding details and then I couldn´t stop anymore XD Hah! I bet there are tons of cute pics hanging on those walls, and I bet the boys are embarrassed about every single one of them XD Ah, I might elaborate Vincent and Lucrecia´s relationship later, depending on how I feel XD

**AlexJ69:** *hands you your cookies* There you go, but don´t eat them all at once! I´m glad you liked the details! Usually I´m too impatient to be descriptive... I hope it didn´t get too much though XD Yes, Lucrecia has adopted a tactic of 'if I don´t think about it, it never happened', which might not be very wise... Hehe, he´d be dead twice or so, at least XDD And I hope you noticed how I avoided color in this chapter *a tiny bit proud*

**PsychoSteph:** No one can resist Seph, no one! *vehement nod* Haha, yes, I figured that Genesis would make the perfect singer, he´s so extroverted and flashy and has his poem thingy XD Yeah, the last chapters are a bit uhm... uneventful, since it more or less just depicts daily life, but it is fun to write^^ And I so wouldn´t want to be the one to wake him up either, his mom might be the only one to get away with it unscathed XD

**Anne Voda Hijme:** Hm, since they are brothers their relationship started with Yazoo´s birth, kind of, but the sexual note may have been added later. Though I wonder if in this case it is so easy for them to distinguish between the many different forms of love... I´m glad you liked the photos, they were fun to write^^

**oztan:** Haha, I really like that vacation idea! I think Vincent really needs to spend some quality time with the boys! Let´s see how that goes XD

**PoppetlurvesZexion:** Haha, if I was you I would have smacked that 'friend' of mine XD Throwing yoghurts at teachers *shakes head and giggles* But it seems your teacher didn´t even notice, did s/he? XDD

**danslalune27:** Thanks! Hm, I think their kiss was rather spontaneous and might have surprised the both of them, but then they just went along with it, since it felt right and all :) Yes, Vincent and Lucrecia were very young, but we´ll learn more about that later too (or so I have planned).

**Soooooo, did you like? Or not? Either way, please please please tell me^^**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Go wash your face."

Yazoo closed the thick glass door behind him, laying his key on the chiffonier. Kadaj already occupied the floor already, intricately pulling at his shoes. The two of them had finished their classes today earlier than their brothers and so they had been riding home together by bus. That meant that it was their turn to prepare lunch before Loz and Sephiroth arrived so they could eat all together, do homework and take care of the chores afterwards .

"My face is fine!" Kadaj objected, throwing his shoes aside. He marched up to the mirror that hung above the chiffonier and was far too high for the little guy to see himself, but Kadaj had his own methods and so he jumped up and down until he at least reached a height where he could barely see his eyes glancing back at him over the golden frame. "See?"

Yazoo just rolled his eyes at him and threateningly licked his finger as he came closer. "You want me to clean it?"

"Ewww, stay away, you´re so disgusting! Fine, I´m going!" Kadaj ducked and slipped past his brother to rush to the bathroom and escape the spit-cleaning. His mom sometimes did that, and it was really really gross!

While Kadaj cleaned away the last traces of his painting class, Yazoo went into the warm, quiet kitchen to study the note on the fridge that their mother had left there this morning. It wasn´t much, actually. She asked them to finally clean up their bath room and sweep the stairs, but otherwise Lucrecia only wished them a good day. Listlessly, Yazoo had a look through the contents of the fridge. He didn´t feel particularly hungry, but he knew Loz and Kadaj would be, so they´d get a big pot of spaghetti.

Since both their parents worked full-time, they had found a nice arrangement. They took care of some of the housework and in return their parents refrained from hiring a nanny. It left the boys with some air to breathe, without an adult constantly hovering over them, and Vincent and Lucrecia were convinced that their children learned to be independent and responsible.

The boy let go of the fridge door without touching anything, and walked up the stairs into Loz´ room. He actually liked the smell of gasoline and oil that swirled inside, drowning out all natural, complicated odors even with the window open. It was safe and comfortable in here, a cocoon; it was utterly Loz and machines. Mechanical things were controllable and predictable and not as silly and open for interpretation as stupid poems were... They either worked or they didn´t. It was only 1 or 0.

Yazoo plopped down onto Loz´ bed face first, sucked in the clean, soft sheets with every pore of his body, and closed his eyes. It was dark in here, when he pressed his face into the mattress like that, and the unique smell of Loz´ stuff drowned out every other odor, making it obsolete and carrying Yazoo into a universe that was free from worldly matters (such as poetry that had gotten him into a special homework assignment or else he would just receive a fat, ugly F).

No, everything was good here and didn´t apply to stupid rules he hadn´t made up and didn´t care about, but still had to follow or all hell would break lose. Yazoo didn´t understand all the ruckus anyway, he and Sephiroth had been like this since ever and now all of a sudden everyone was being shocked and whatnot. Things really had been easier when they had been younger; less to worry about, less responsibilities...

"_A´right! I´m se prince, Loz is se monsta an' Yaz is se Princess." _

_In the back of the sunny garden, hidden from intruding and sober adult eyes lay the fairy kingdom that was currently built and carefully sorted by a six year old boy who wore his gray plastic knight uniform with a straight back and solemn pride. His little plastic sword was imperiously pointed at another boy who gave an affirmative grunt, too busy staring in fascination at Seph´s holey set of teeth that shone brilliantly whenever he parted those moist, rosy lips. Loz didn´t care about the look of the knight´ lips, he had his own, but recently Seph was losing his teeth like there was no tomorrow. The little holes in his mouth looked like scars of war to Loz, each of them telling another story of great heroism and painful parting. Besides, Loz didn´t mind being the monster, because he could be wild and growl and be scary and that was actually quite fun! He wouldn´t have minded being the prince every once in a while, but Seph had explained to him that this wasn´t possible because the prince had to have a sword and Loz didn´t have one. It was very plausible to the second oldest that he had to be the monster (and the sword couldn´t be shared because it was Sephiroth´s precious and god forbid that anyone even looked at it for too long!). As long as Loz didn´t have to be the princess he was content._

"_Hmhm." After the knight had nodded his approval with the prompt and proper consent, he turned around, stepped over his brave and loyal hobby horse Stefan -that was especially precious because grandpa Grim had made it for them himself!- and crouched down before the 'princess'. Yazoo hadn´t listened again, because he was lost in the task of tearing flowers around him from where he sat on the grass, gingerly eating them with a concentrated look on his chubby face. Sephiroth blew some silver hair out of his face that spilled right back, briefly regretted the decision to let it grow out and then concentrated back on catching the princess' attention. He gently caught Yazoo´ fist, in which the youngest held a buttercup. "Yazoo, you´re se princess. I´m gonna save you from se monsta."_

_The four year old's features brightened with a happy smile that seemed to come out of nowhere when he met Sephiroth´s green gaze, and then Yazoo tilted his head to process the other´s words."I?"_

"_Yes, Loz is se monsta."_

"_'Kay."_

_With a smile, Sephiroth got up and reached past the plastic harness he was wearing over his blue-white striped T-shirt and short pants. It was too warm to wear the helmet as well –hence his air unnerving him because he couldn´t just stuff it in place underneath- and puffed out a breath as he searched his pocket with knitted brows. Loz curiously came closer, crawling over the lawn on his bare knees to see what awesomeness Seph´d produce now. He himself wore a red T-shirt with a ship on it and blue shorts that were quite dirty and already smudged with earth and grass._

_Then he gasped out in excited veneration and slight horror as Sephiroth triumphantly summoned a wonder of sparkling rainbows and cool jewels._

"_But that´s mom´s necklace." The whisper was accompanied by a nervous look back to the house that was shielded from their view, but just for good measure Loz did it anyway. At the same time he licked his lips and held his wildly pulsing belly, hitching from excitement. Leave it to Seph to come up with such a forbidden, sneaky surprise!_

"_She won´t notice," Sephiroth conspiratorially muttered back behind his hand. He wasn´t as confident about it as he sounded and suspected that his Mom would be less than happy to discover that her favorite choker that she had inherited from her grandma was missing to aid in their games. But every princess needed a crown, Sephiroth was profoundly convinced of that, and so they just had to make sure to put it back before Mom missed it._

_Hesitantly, but finally, Loz nodded with the utmost respect for his brother´s audacity and watched as Seph knelt down to carefully grab Yazoo´s chin. "Don´t move too much, kay? It´ll fall off."_

_Yazoo was just about to give a devoted nod, but caught himself last minute. "Dun move."_

_It earned him a satisfied smile and then Sephiroth reached out again to adjust the necklace he had draped in a very complicated circle atop Yazoo´s hair and the little one kept stock still, aware of the importance of this preparation. Once he was happy with the outcome Sephiroth stood again, giving his masterpiece another critical look. Loz and Yazoo were holding their breath, until it was declared done. _

_Personally, Sephiroth thought that Yazoo looked very cute and that the sparkling in his hair complimented his huge, glistening eyes and rosy cheeks rather well, but he didn´t say that. He also resisted the urge to gather the tiny, fresh-faced figure against his chest, something he felt compelled to do rather often..._

_Instead Sephiroth turned back to Stefan to pick him up and then informed Yazoo over his shoulders, "Se monster´s gonna kidnap you now, but don´t worry, I´ll come to save you." The final air that emphasized the last part was worthy of any heroic knight that knew no doubt and fear and once again Loz was impressed, but then he remembered that this was also his cue to pick up Yazoo from the ground to 'kidnap' him. _

_That was easier said than done, because Yazoo indignantly pushed him away, pointing out with a little scowl "Dun move!", but eventually Loz persuaded his brother to slowly get up and they made their way behind a large three that served as the monster´s cave with tiny steps. All the way there Yazoo stiffly held his head up, almost tripping over his own feet, but Loz was there to catch him._

_Once Yazoo had sat down in the cool, shadowy pattern of leaves and branches that softly rustled and chirped above him, the fight started._

_Loz put up all the resistance he could muster and they rolled around in the grass for a while, abandoning all grace and elegance of the proper, supposed sword fight, because neither of them knew how to stage that with only one sword. They stuck to martial arts instead, which was just as much fun and provided enough opportunities to get dirty._

_The second oldest had learned a new move a week ago, a kick that aimed at the attacker´s knee to get them off their feet and he was set on trying that one as often as he could. Of course Seph was a year ahead of him in training, but Loz was pretty strong already and that helped to even it out a bit. In the end he was defeated anyway, and he gave up when Seph had straddled his heaving chest, holding the formerly abandoned sword to his pulsing throat. _

"_You have been defeated, monster," the knight sternly informed his red-faced, sweaty and exhausted brother. "Now, hand over se princess."_

_Loz gave a grunt, feeling raw and dirty, but absolutely wonderful. The endorphins overrode the pain of several scratches and bruises and made him feel pleasantly tired; all his limbs felt heavy and the five year old wouldn´t have minded just falling asleep on the spot. Then he shuffled to his feet and led the prince to his lair._

_The princess in question just missed the glorious moment of her rescue as he had found a very interesting ladybug slowly crawl over the cracked bark of a tree trunk, but Sephiroth wasn´t discouraged in the least._

_Bravely he stepped into the dead monster´s stinking, terrifyingly dark den to free the damsel in distress and lead her back to his country to make her the queen so that they could live happily ever after._

_The princess left the ladybug only reluctantly behind, but Sephiroth very urgently pulled at Yazoo´s hand and they only had to stop once on their way back to the castle because the princess had found a strangely-shaped piece of gravel that had to be taken with them._

_Eventually when they arrived in the great and rich golden halls, Loz transformed into the king who welcomed his son and the soon-to-be queen with approval and praise, ready to leave them the throne. A great banquet would be held and songs about the prince´s brave tales__would be sung, while the royal household (consisting of several, carefully lined up plushies) would admire the princess beauty and elegance._

_So far it was like always and the game was about to be over, when Seph thoughtfully announced that they should hold the wedding ceremony now._

"_We gotta marry."_

"_Oh." Loz´ mouth formed a perfectly round O, but then he just shrugged. It sounded like fun, so why not? "How does one do that?"_

"_Who´s Mary?" Yazoo piped up with confused eyes, still clinging to his knight´s hand and not moving his head one inch. He was intrigued by Loz and Seph´ pompous words, even though he didn´t understand half of them. But the stripes of golden light that fell on them through the canopy made it look like it was only illuminating Sephiroth and it sparkled very prettily in his messy hair. Yazoo decided that he didn´t care who Mary was if only they could stay here for a while longer like this, Seph´s warm hand curled around Yazoo´s own. Big brother really looked like a knight just then, strong and beautiful. If one didn´t pay attention one could get lost in the swirling fireworks that constantly seemed to explode in his green irises... Only looking at him filled Yazoo with a sparkly happiness as if there was sweet lemonade rushing through his veins instead of sticky blood._

"_Not Mary, stupid." Sephiroth´s snicker was light and bubbly and joined by Loz´ more earthy one. Yazoo narrowed his eyes and stuck out his lower lip._

"_We´re having a wedding. It´s like... like with mom and dad. I´m dad and you´re mom and then we´re married."_

_It was the simplest way to explain it to Yazoo and pretty much covered all the knowledge Sephiroth had about it himself, but he liked the idea of it. Mom and Dad seemed very happy together, and he thought that it would suit Yazoo and himself just fine!_

_However, he hadn´t expected to meet resistance. _

"_I can´t be mom, I has a weewee..." _

_Loz face darkened as well, as he took this very valid argument into consideration._

_In his childish naivety, Yazoo suggested the unthinkable, because he really wanted to marry now too and big brother looked sad and disappointed what with his figure slumped and his lower lip being sucked in (he might have bitten it if he still had had any front teeth)._

"_Cans't we both be daddy?"_

"_No." Both boys shook their heads in unison, dismissing the idea at once. Only men and women could marry, this was as much a fact of life as the tooth fairy placing little coins under Sephiroth´s pillow at night in exchange for his tiny teeth but Yazoo was still small, so he couldn't be blamed for not knowing._

"_Don´t you wanna be happy with me forever?" Sephiroth tried to persuade, feeling helpless with the new development. He hadn´t anticipated this problem and it threw him off a bit._

"_I wanna!" Sephiroth´s hand was squeezed with force and held tightly, as Yazoo looked up at him with conviction, even forgetting about the precious crown for a moment "'Kay, I´m mom then."_

_And thus Sephiroth and Yazoo got married in a quickly thought up ceremony. Big Brother was beaming happily and rearranged the princess´ crown._

"_All right!" Loz importantly cleared his throat, his little form straightening up due to the importance of the moment. Somehow this seemed like a really special, momentous event, and he didn´t want to mess it up. For only a second he faltered, not knowing what to tell the two expectant boys that were facing him and his heart started racing, his hands turning wet. Quickly, Loz wiped them against his pants and took a deep breath. Mom had told him about her own wedding and even though he didn't remember the details, he had the general ceremony before his inner eye._

"_You wanna marry?"_

_The gravely-spoken question lingered heavily between them, slowly swirling over the little clearing in the back of the garden, shadowing carelessly thrown away toys and trampled flowers. Yazoo held his breath, eyes round and unblinking. He was really focused and it was like time had stopped and everything was especially sharp and edgy._

"_Yes," Sephiroth replied within a heartbeat. It sounded like "Yef", courtesy of his missing teeth. He had to give Yazoo a little nudge, so that he would answer as well and stop staring at Sephiroth´s nose._

_Quickly, Yazoo nodded his consent, which caused his crown to slip over his ear, but no one noticed._

"_You gotta say 'yes'."_

"_Yes."_

_The words fluttered away like butterflies and Yazoo looked after them with awe. They were a brilliant, glittering blue. Then his attention was drawn back to Loz._

"_Okay... so now, you gotta exchange the rings."_

_That made the smallest jump a little in excitement, pulling at Sephiroth´s hand, who, in return sported a crestfallen expression again. Maybe he should have thought this through a little more thoroughly... Luckily the Goddess of Love took pity on them though and benevolently sent the startled boy an epiphany._

"_It doesn´t have to be real rings," he declared with all the convinced air a 6 year old could muster. "It just gotta be something that you really like."_

"_Oh.." Loz was impressed again, nodded and then watched as Sephiroth took a deep breath, opened his mouth wide and stuck his slender fingers in to pull at a lose tooth that he had pushed around all day with his tongue already. He winced only slightly when the soft tissue gave way and summoned a small white splinter covered in a bit of blood. The token of love was inspected by three pairs of amazed eyes before it changed owners and was carefully put into Yazoo´s hand. Loz was almost a little bit envious, but only a little bit. He didn´t really want to marry Seph._

_Yazoo held the tooth as if it was the Holy Grail, so smitten he was, but then Big Brother´s expectant tug at their joined hands reminded the smaller one that he had to give something in return. His face went blank for only a second, before the bride remembered the little heart shaped stone that was safely tucked away in his pocket. With only little regret, Yazoo fingered it out, careful not to drop his precious tooth and handed it over to the groom who took it with the necessary respect and gratitude._

"_Great! Now you´re mom and dad!" Loz clasped his hands together and conveyed his joy with a bounce, before he caught himself, crunched his face a little in disgust and stuck his rosy tongue out. "You gotta kiss now, though..."_

_In an instant Yazoo had squeezed his eyes shut, puffed his cheeks out and pursed his lips, little arms sticking out behind his back, body leaning towards Seph. To Loz he looked like one of those horribly kitschy china figures that were painted in too bright, glistening lacquer and usually occupied the window sills of old grannies._

_Sephiroth didn´t seem to mind though, because he leaned down, carefully held Yazoo´s head in place and concluded the ceremony._

And since then they had been married, for ten years now, happily and with the promise to take care of each other for the rest of their lives. That was, until two days ago...

Yazoo buried his face deeper into the pillow, when two little hands roughly shook his back.

"What are you doing?" Kadaj curiously lifted a strand of silver hair from Yazoo´s hidden face and crawled on the bed beside him. He didn´t like being left out of the fun things!

Yazoo only gave an inaudible grunt into the fluffy cushion and wasn´t to be persuaded to speak more clearly even though Kadaj shoved his tiny knuckles between his brother´s shoulder blades. So there was no other way but for the youngest to explore the mystery himself... Taking a deep breath, Kadaj blew up his cheeks like a hamster and then pressed his red, freshly scrubbed face into Loz´ bed as well.

Loz found them an hour later, curled up on the mattress. Kadaj had nestled his head against Yazoo´s chest and held on to one of his brother´s silver strands with tiny fingers. The elder had somewhat protectively curled around the small body holding on to his own and was softly drooling onto Loz´ pillow.

The second oldest grunted, still standing in the door way and not sure if he should be annoyed or admit to the warm fluttering in his stomach. He secretly was a sucker for cute things, and this sight was most adorable (save for the drool...). Besides, his growling belly reminded Loz that he was very hungry and that there was no warm meal waiting for him, like there was supposed to be!

The fine, irritated line between his brows sharpened again.

"What´s going on?"

Sephiroth frowned, peeking past his brother´s broad back that blocked the door way to his room as he followed Loz´wordlessly held up finger that pointed accusingly towards his occupied, ruffled bed. Just then, Kadaj stirred and rolled over, absently stuffing Yazoo´s hair into his mouth to suck on it in his sleep.

"That´s going on." Loz voice had dropped to a low, indecisive mutter. His eyes flickered over to the oldest, hoping that Sephiroth knew what the appropriate reaction in this situation was. The elder had already changed into more casual attire that consisted of a black band shirt with a white, indecipherable font that spiked to all sides in a rather brutal and feral manner. It was probably intended to give off that very aura. Sephiroth´s hands were casually stuffed into the pockets of some battered, formerly black pants that were littered with little holes and washed out blotches. They looked pretty used and old, but they were insanely comfortable. Bare toes curled into the soft fibers of Loz´ carpet, as Sephiroth saw no legitimate reason to wear socks or even shoes inside his estate. It was warm, and the cool stone tiles and polished wooden blankets did feel very pleasant under his soles...

"I see..." Fathomlessly, his brain processed the action of Yazoo demandingly wrapping his arm tighter around Kadaj´s belly to snuggle him closer as if the boy was a giant teddy bear, only made to satisfy Yazoo´s cuddle cravings. And he looked just so... Sephiroth´s toes curled harder, anchoring him to his spot because otherwise he would have strode over to join the party and get some snuggling of his own.

"I´m going to make spaghetti, help yourself to some of my clothes. "

Two quiet, defeated sighs swept through the warm, sleepy air and then the boys parted into opposite directions. Loz couldn´t wait to finally get out of his uniform and made a beeline to Seph´s wardrobe so he didn´t wake his brothers when he rummaged through his own things, while the latter padded down into the kitchen to get something on the stove.

A few rooms away from either of them, Yazoo´s lips twitched into a tiny smirk, before he went back to dozing and enjoying another round of daydreams.

tbc?

* * *

**I might should have put a fluff warning at the beginning, but meh XD I hope you liked it anyways, and many many thanks go to alexj69 of course, for the awesome betaing! You may wonder about the lunch thing: I went with my own school experience here, and in my country school is out at 12 pm for the younger and around 1pm for the older kids^^ So we don´t have lunch at school, but usually at home. Also, I´d like to thank everyone for reviewing and subscribing (and reading *pokes lurkers in the cheeks*). Now, I have a question for you: Would you rather have regular, shorter chapters or lengthy ones (but then the updates will be fewer)?**

**And now on to my favorite part: REVIEW REPLIES!**

**Madisuzy:** Yay, thank you, I´m glad you like Kadaj! I´m trying to not make him pretty, because I think he´s actually a sweet kid, if only a bit hyper sometimes and just a tiny lil bit spoiled XD And yes, he and Yuffie together...- I don´t think you can survive them without a big pack of aspirin XD Seph so should stop angsting and molest him already, I concur!

**Oztan:** Haha, Genesis feels luffed! Hm, I wonder how long Seph can keep trying ;) Or maybe he will find another love interest? We´ll see^^ So, I take it you don´t like incest very well? Or would you just rather see Sephiroth with someone else? *curious*

**Anne Voda Hijme:** I suppose Yazoo must be even worse at composing poetry, he was desperate and this is why he made a deal with Reno XD For some reason I found that image of exploding Sephy quite funny XD Thanks for the laugh XDDD

**Arabella Strife:** Haha, yeah, go smack her, she deserves it! ;) Hehe, well, technically I have no idea if boys feel particularly different during puberty, but I suppose they have similar symptoms (or so I hope)... Yeah, and the two of them need to talk *sigh*

**Psycho Steph:** Wooot, I´m glad you liked it! I think Yazoo was very desperate, that´s why he traded with Reno XD He at least had something Reno desired. And OMG! What a thought! Yeah, imagine! Poor Reno, he´d be disturbed for the rest of his life O___o (Though I´d so want a copy of this tape XD). Haha, and again you hit it XDD Genesis was pissed that Yaz hadn´t asked him, since Genesis sees himself as a poetry genious XD

**natzilla:** Hm, I bet your pervy mind cooked up some smutty, inappropriate interaction? :P Seph makes a very gorgeous ice queen, doesn´t he? Though you may not say that too loud, he´s still searching Norway for you, and he has little icicles hanging from his nose :P

**danslalune27:** Yeah, Reno is very easy to recognize XD Hm, Yazoo looks kinda dreamy and all, but I think his mind is more technical actually. He might be pretty useless to voice any of his daydreams XD Thanks for reviewing, and I´m very happy you like it, I try to focus a little bit more on details in this one^^

**Soyna:** Haha, you think Genesis might becoming a problem? Hehe, he´s the self-declared poetry police, he might really get someone into trouble ;) I bet Yazoo gave him crappy (not literally though __) hetero porn he had no interest in whatsoever. But at their age straight boys might be fascinated by anything with a pussy and tits XD *shudders*

**Review pretty please?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey! Sorry for the long wait, I was reeeaaaaaaaally busy and I will continue to be busy with college and the job I hopefully get :( But thanks for sticking with me and I hope you will like the new chapter, well see more of the other boys this time^^ As always I want to thank my uberawesome beta AlexJ69 for her very helpful suggestions and her corrections! *huggles***

**Enjoy^^**

**

* * *

**

Chapter 11

Half an hour later, a steaming pot full of noodles was resting in the middle of the dark wooden table on the patio. Since the sun was shining strongly down into the garden, Sephiroth had decided that they could as well eat outside – besides, cleaning Kadaj´s mess up wouldn´t be necessary because there were enough insects and birds here to get rid of whatever food he dropped.

He was already seated in one of the padded deckchairs. Absently drumming with the tip of his knife against the edge of the table, he waited for the rest of his family to grace him with their presence before the noodles had gone completely cold. Maybe sending Loz to wake them up hadn´t been such a bright idea; despite his rather burly looks, Loz wasn´t very good with pushing through...

Just then, Loz trotted back to the table, claiming his own seat by heavily falling into it with a hungry grunt. He had found a relatively neutral, sleeveless black shirt at the bottom of Seph´s drawer, hidden underneath an impressive pile of band-shirts, as well as a pair of old jeans the other didn´t wear anymore unless he had to work in the garden with Dad.

Without waiting for his other two brothers to arrive, Loz grabbed the pot and started to fill his plate with huge chunks of slippery, wet spaghetti. It hardly mattered though because a few seconds later Kadaj and Yazoo arrived on the sun kissed patio. The former clung to the hand of the latter, greeted the garden with a big, toothy yawn and then rubbed his eyes to climb onto his chair. His stomach gave a surprisingly loud growl for such a little person, but the watery smell of the noodles that wafted from the chrome pot went right through his nostrils into his starved braincells and down to his contracting, empty belly.

Yazoo sat down beside Kadaj, opposite Sephiroth, and waited for the pot to arrive at his place. Loz noticed with a frown that he hadn´t bothered to change out of his wrinkled uniform yet, and something inside him felt compelled to say something about it. It almost had a magical pull, like the need to scratch a minor, annoying itch - but Loz resisted. For him it was a routine to get out of his school clothing first thing when he got home, because then his free time started and he didn´t want to have anything to do with it anymore; for Yazoo... Well, Loz suspected that the younger had forgotten that he was still wearing it, and even if he had noticed, Yazoo may not care.

"What´s this?" Kadaj interrupted the second oldest´s musings, critically watching a slobbery bulk of noodles slowly gliding from his raised fork to splash onto the plate.

"What do you _think_ this is?"

Sephiroth had narrowed his eyes in irritation. His tongue was just about to transform into a very sharp, biting knife, but for now he kept his tone in check. Fine, so he wasn´t the best cook -and he had never claimed that he was!- but it was the brat´s own fault for falling asleep and he should be damn grateful that Sephiroth had bothered to fight the kitchen at all!

Kadaj´s face not-so-subtly contorted into a very expressive mask of disgust as he poked the noodles in a way as if he expected them to leap from the plate and attack him any second.

"Not sure yet..." Unaware of his brother´s quickly-deteriorating mood, Kadaj searched the table, unfazed. "Where´s the sauce?" Maybe, if he just buried these awful slime-sticks under a thick layer of creamy, warm Bolognese, spiced with fresh meat and dill and parsley...

BAM!

Without a word, Sephiroth very testily smashed a half-full bottle of ketchup right in front of the runt's plate and dared him with his glare of doom to say something about it.

Kadaj´s face visibly fell. He was just about to open his mouth and give the round a good piece of his dissatisfied mind about the quality of his lunch when a foot quickly kicked him under the table. Wincing, Kadaj gritted his teeth and shot Loz a glare of his own. He just grabbed the ketchup though, and sulkily let a little bit trickle onto his spaghetti. He so wouldn´t eat this...

Sephiroth supervised Kadaj´s actions from above, very much like a general drilling his incompetent and worthless recruits, before he went back to swirling noodles around his fork and nibbling at them with little enthusiasm. They were cold, too soft and greasy, drenched in even colder ketchup. (Next time he would take the bottle out of the fridge a few minutes before they would eat, he wisely assessed.). It cost the oldest a lot of willpower to not associate his self-made lunch with one of his favorite band´s CD covers, namely the one with the bloated, ivory vermin softly gnawing their swirling ways through a rotten, bleeding brain...

Loz politely pushed his spaghetti around, mixing it with blotches of ketchup into a white-red mess, but his thoughts were entirely elsewhere. A soft sigh escaped him, as he hung there over the table, chin propped on one hand, eyes drifting off to an imaginary mechanical problem he would bury himself in later.

The only one who didn´t seem to have any issues with Sephiroth´s 'cooking' was Yazoo. Besides the fact that he was quite hungry and couldn´t afford to be picky here, he also felt that his brother needed some support. The spaghetti _was_ awful, but it was nothing compared to Sephiroth´s chili con carne and they had lived through _that_ as well! And there was also some guilt driving him to put another forkful of the abysmal spaghetti into his mouth; it had been his turn to cook actually, and it was quite nice that Seph had done it for him. So the least Yazoo could do was pretend that he liked it... Those little, almost unnoticeable gestures of affection were their discreet way of communicating their feelings because they could not be open about it. It was impossible to just kiss or touch so they had become creative...

And surely, Yazoo's stoic eating earned him a pleased (and partly grateful) look… until their eyes met however, when said look was quickly abandoned.

The garden was silent for a while, save for some birds in the trees, the humming of fat bees lazily buzzing over the lawn and the clicking of cutlery scratching against plates. The soft screech of the garden door could be heard and a moment later, Zack Fair sauntered around the corner with a smile that radiated as much warmth and happiness as did the yellow spot pinned to the cloudless sky above him.

"My mom made cake, anyone want some?" He held out a large plate that was cramped with a mountain of brown, crumby chocolate cake his mom was really famous for, especially among the Valentine boys.

Four pairs of razor sharp, glowing eyes abruptly all settled on poor Zack -or rather the plate he was holding- and the boy tensed, feeling very much like an especially succulent zebra walking right into a lion´s den.

"K-knock yourselves out." Zack quickly sat the plate down on the table and then hastily retreated to get out of the line of fire. The only things he got in response were Kadaj´s strangely accusing exclamation, "I love Zack´s mom!" followed by a grunted "Shuddup" that sounded suspiciously as if it had come from Sephiroth and was accompanied by a scandalized yelp from Kadaj as he was roughly pushed away from the cake.

"Don´t worry, they´re actually nice people." Zack easily summoned another sunny smile to his lips and let it shine down on his company who had been ignored, due to the cake that had top priority right now with the Valentines.

Cloud Strife, a fourteen year old that had only come to town with his family a few hours ago, (and was instantly claimed by his new neighbor Zack as soon as he had been spotted,) blankly stared at the fierce battle that had broken out around the table, uncomfortably shifted and pressed his lips together. Maybe he should go home and see if the boxes with his stuff had arrived...

"C´mon, let´s sit down!"

Before Cloud had the chance to stutter an excuse for why he had to leave, Zack had already grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards two empty deckchairs that stood a bit away from the table and were shadowed by a large umbrella.

It was the perfect place to watch the quite amusing show going on around the plate of cake, Zack found. Just then, Loz attempted to throw himself at the cake and gather as many pieces as he could grab but was prevented from doing so by Seph´s hand snatching out to pull him back by the shoulder in a none-too-gentle manner.

"Your mom´s cake?" a deep voice behind the other two boys suddenly announced, laced with faint amusement. As Zack turned his head, he met with two strong arms casually crossed over a blue, t-shirt-covered chest that belonged to one Angeal Hewley.

"Yeah."

"It never mixes well with Seph´s cooking," Genesis solemnly observed beside his friend, as his eyes drifted from Zack´s mirthful grin to the table. Kadaj just indignantly bobbed up from the ground where he´d been shoved and flew back to the table. Loz, Yazoo and Sephiroth were fighting over the last piece with Loz viciously tearing at Yazoo´s hair to pull his head down and keep him away from the plate. In return, Yazoo had managed to get two fingers into Loz´s nose and clawed at it with all his might. From the other side, Loz had to fend off Sephiroth with his arm, keeping him away from the cake while the oldest pretty much tried to break his elbow. The interaction between Sephiroth and Yazoo was reduced to feral, warning growls and challenging scowls.

"5 bucks on Loz." Head tilted, Genesis dryly kept on observing the war.

Cloud awkwardly looked up at the older boy, his eyes widened and unsure. "Shouldn´t we... make them stop fighting or something? This looks kinda dangerous..." For some reason the blonde instinctively turned towards Angeal, since he seemed to be the most calm and reasonable of the group. It was a gut feeling and in all his young years, Cloud´s guts had always been right.

"No way, it´s the Cake Fight, believe me, you wouldn´t get out of it alive," Angeal declared with the usual regal air around him. "5 bucks on Seph."

"B-but-"

"It´s all right, Spiky. They´re fine!" A heavy hand colliding with his shoulder knocked the air out of Cloud´s lungs and he almost fell from his chair, but Zack appeared unfazed as he squeezed the back of his new friend´s neck in a reassuring manner and graciously offered, "So, who do you wanna bet on, Kadaj or Yazoo?"

"I don-" Cloud stopped short in his protest and then admitted defeat with a sigh. Obviously these guys were completely nuts, all of them, but arguing was just as futile. He had no idea who in this mess of growling, clawing silver and cake was who, but he didn´t want to deepen the topic either by asking. "Kadaj...?"

"Great!" Zack beamed at him as if Cloud had just won the lottery, but then they were distracted by a howl as Loz came flying past them, a thin strand of silver hair still clutched in his hands. He met the pool with a high splash and the spectators made a discreet step aside to not get wet by the fountain that showered the garden.

Cloud´s eyes went even bigger but no one else seemed to mind the absurd scene, and sure enough, after a moment, Loz crawled out of the foaming water like Godzilla out of the ocean, set on a mission to destroy.

Up on the terrace Yazoo and Sephiroth were circling each other like two very skinny sumo fighters, eyes shooting sizzling bolts at each other, white teeth bared. They still communicated in a strange language that consisted mostly of guttural growls and threatening hisses. To Zack it seemed like a very complicated discussion, because neither of them went for the cake, but wouldn´t let the other dash for it either.

Since everyone was so busy with the other, neither of them noticed little Kadaj sneaking up and sticking his nose over the table. What he lacked in strength he made up in swiftness and in this case, his inferior height was quite an advantage because before the other three knew it, he had quickly snatched the last piece of cake from the plate and made a run for the garden.

To the crowd that had gathered, it looked quite comical when Yazoo and Sephiroth sported dumbfounded faces at the empty plate and then dashed after the smallest who flitted over the lawn like a rabbit being hunted by wolves. A wet Loz joined them, dripping all over the patio, but it was to no avail. While his little feet still carried him through the garden in circles, Kadaj hastily stuffed the remaining piece of cake into his smeared mouth and hectically gulped it down, so that nothing was left when he finally got caught by his brothers.

"Good choice." With a grin Zack gave Cloud´s thin shoulders another smack and fumbled for five gil in his pockets. The rest of the party joined with a sigh, while Kadaj gloated triumphantly in his brothers' disappointed faces.

Now that the feast was over, the Valentines finally became aware of their guests and made their way back to the patio. Sephiroth acknowledged his friends with a short, none-too-enthusiastic nod and quietly fell down on his chair as if all energy had left him. He pretty much looked like a big, lazy and very satiated cat now, Zack thought with a small smile. Not as if he was overly eager to practice their new songs but knowing Seph, he´d do it anyway; he was a reliable guy.

Loz greeted them with a grunt and grumpily waddled into the house to get a change of clothes before he caught a cold. Yazoo busied himself with combing through his disheveled hair with long fingers, avoiding Genesis' strict eyes.

Cloud felt slightly awkward holding money in his hand he hadn´t asked for, flanked by strange people he didn´t know. No one seemed to pay special attention to the 'new guy', like Cloud had expected, but then again he wasn´t too eager to be the center of attention. Those people seemed to be comfortable around each other, acting naturally and unperturbed and the blond actually liked the relaxed atmosphere, even though they were weird.

That was, until Kadaj discovered him. With narrowed eyes he planted himself before the startled blond and critically sized him up and down. "You bet on me?"

Cloud was so surprised (and a bit intimidated) that he just gave a nervous, hesitant nod. All of a sudden, he felt foolish for partaking in such an amoral business; the little boy must be offended. Instead of helping him and breaking up the fight, they had viciously taken entertainment out of Kadaj´s miserable situatio-

"I get half of what you earned, since I did all the work and such," the boy nonchalantly interrupted Cloud´s troubled thoughts, demandingly holding out his little hand. Cloud was so dumbfounded that he mechanically put half of his 'earnings' into the white palm. A sunny smile broke out on Kadaj´s features when he stuffed the money into his pocket and he grinned at Cloud as if he had decided that the new boy would be his bestest buddy from now on.

"Thanks! You´re new, aren´t you? I´m Kadaj, want some spaghetti?"

Right that moment, the phone shrilled somewhere inside the house, causing Sephiroth to heavily get up to answer it.

"I´ll be right back."

Yazoo´s eyes followed Sephiroth through the large living room window until he had vanished in the kitchen. Everybody was still busy avoiding Kadaj and his attempts to get rid of the Spaghetti Of Hell and finally stop interrogating poor Cloud, so Yazoo surely wouldn´t be missed too soon.

Silently, Yazoo made his way into the kitchen, where his older brother sat on a chair with his back to the door. "Yes, everything´s normal... I´m fine! We just had...cake...No, we won´t forget to wipe the stairs... Yeah, see you later, bye Dad."

Yazoo could literally see the eyeroll that accompanied hanging up the phone. It was laid aside on the table and then Sephiroth massaged his temple, unaware that he was being watched. He seemed quite contemplative since that incident, Yazoo thought… and extraordinarily beautiful, even from behind with his profile mostly hidden by the angle and his long hair- but that was nothing new. Yazoo didn´t care much about aesthetics anyway. To him, Sephiroth could have looked like the fatal result of Freddy Krueger mating with the Bride of Chucky and his feelings would still have been the same. It was unimaginable to _not_ be together because they always had been, in many different, changing ways, but it was right and natural and unquestioned. Their lives and beings were inextricably interwoven; they needed each other like the air to breathe. Of course they fought, but this didn´t change anything about the nature of their relationship; which was why Yazoo was thrown off. They hadn´t fought at all and still Sephiroth was being distant. Maybe it had something to do with the incident a few nights ago? But they had managed that situation, hadn´t they? Seph had said that he had taken care of it and that there was nothing to worry about... Or maybe Yazoo was just imagining things and there was nothing wrong at all.

Not exactly sneaking up from behind, Yazoo reduced the distance between them, slung his arms around Sephiroth´s neck and leaned his head against the other´s in a gesture of affection. The closeness felt good and relieving, their bodies automatically smoothing and pressing against each other as if they had a will of their own or were drawn to each other like the two poles of a magnet. Pieces of a puzzle. Whatever. They were only whole when they were together and this was such a profound fact that it needed no verbalization, no petty attempt for an allegory.

Sephiroth´s cheek against Yazoo´s was cool and soft. Luckily they were saved the humiliation of wildly spreading pimples, thanks to their genes (somehow Yazoo really couldn´t visualize their father with skin blemishes and little red volcanoes ready to burst pus, so he blamed their perfect skin on genes.)

Against him, Sephiroth gave an inaudible sigh that Yazoo felt against his chest, and encouraged the younger let his rosy tongue dart out to flick over the corner of his brother´s mouth. "You´ve got cake ther-"

"SEPH, YOU WANNA START PRACTICING?"

tbc?

* * *

Natzilla: I suppose Seph´s lost for good now. Haven´t heard of him... *sigh* Wargod with no sense of direction, poor thing. My grandmother was very fond of spit-cleaning, much to my dismay -.- I´m very happy you liked the chapter, despite the death of cuteness XD It was a lot of fun to write and I think there´ll be more flashback scenes^^

oztan: Yay, I´m glad you liked the chapter! I think Kadaj gets lots of attention from his brothers and parents, he´s the baby after all XD Also, I see your point with the Sephzoo, but Yazoo is still very young and develops (in this fic at least XD). I find your idea of Yazoo becoming interested in someone else very interesting though.. hmmmm :)

Anne Voda Hijme: Haha, thanks XD I have to admit that the last chapter was awfully fluffy indeed XD Yeah, Seph always seems so serious, even in Crisis Core and it was much fun portraying him as a normal kid^^ I think Sephiroth and Yazoo know each other very well indeed, but I wonder if that might change? They are changing after all, especially during puberty...We´ll see^^

Madisuzy: Yeah, they are an old, married couple already XD *grins with you* Split his pants? That would have been too funny XDDD Imagine poor Loz´ dumb face XDDD

AlexJ69: Haha, yay for sticky, teeth-rotting fluff XD I´m glad you like it, it´d be really horrible if you had to read it when you didn´t like it _ *huggles the puddle of mush anyways*

Labe: I bet they´d love it if you hugged them! (They are rooting for brazil on the world cup btw, little traitors T_T). I think the updates will be fewer now, but hopefully a bit longer, there´s no way around it :( *hugs and luffs and vuvuzuelas*

Psycho Steph: Haha, you did? I did too, with my sister and the neighbor kids and I always had to be the guy, because we all were girls -.- We germans say 'se' instead of 'the' all the time btw, even wit all our teeth being intact XD We are too dumb for the tee-age XD

Soyna: Yah, I know, but I still don´t know what has gotten into me XD It was fun to write though XD

aubrieta: Yay, I´m glad you can see it! I thought that since I jumped right into their relationship I should give some explanations in the flashbacks, so there might be more^^ I have only one sister who is younger and we´re at an age now where it doesn´t really matter, but it might really matter. I wasn´t always a good sister _ And I´m very glad that you enjoyed it, wooot!

**Thank you so much for reviewing everyone, it´s what keeps me going despite my Schedule From Hell! Please, if you took the time to read leave me a little comment, to let me know if it´s going into the right direction^^**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey there! Sorry for the long wait, I am still busy as hell *sigh* I hope you enjoy the new chapter, I gotta warn ya: there´s xsxmxuxtx**

* * *

12

There was this very brief moment that decided whether things would go horribly wrong or if they could go on for another while until catastrophe struck. The bad thing was that it interlaced with one of those many "what if" moments that never failed to distract Sephiroth and that blurred out the more acute but less pleasant dangerous moments. He just didn´t like to see the bigger picture sometimes because the 'what if's were so much cozier, so much more fulfilling than constant alert.

This particular 'what if' went something like this:

What if in that very moment they had been alone in the kitchen, in the house? What if his friends hadn´t been lurking on their patio? What if they had been at Zack´s home instead, including Kadaj and Loz?

If they _had_ been, Sephiroth would have leaned back against Yazoo, would have reached around and encouraged a kiss. Would have captured Yazoo´s tongue and sucked it into his mouth while the sun was shining into their faces, forcing them to drop their lids. A quiet kiss it would have been, slow and affectionate, and Sephiroth would reach around and draw Yazoo into his lap. For a moment at least, their heads tilted in opposite directions, their lips brushing against each other, their tongues tasting and playing a game of hide and seek. Their restless hands roamed each other, gliding over woolen fabric, smoothing out the wrinkles, creating new ones. Feeling through a shirt, tracing the familiar lines of hard ribs, smooth skin, warm flesh. Eventually they slipped underneath, they always did, and while they were desperate for air but still couldn´t (or didn´t want to) break the kiss, fingertips touched soft buds, awakening them and teasing them into tightness.

The warm breath ghosting past their lips became faster, shallow, cooling their even warmer cheeks. The little hairs on Sephiroth´s neck stood up in delight when Yazoo´s fingernails gently scraped over his collarbone or his sides; Yazoo shuddered whenever Sephiroth stroked down his spine or nibbled at his earlobe. It felt as if his brother was arching into and trying to squirm away from Sephiroth´s teasing touch at the same time, which only encouraged the older to pay more attention to those sensitive spots. Then Yazoo´s hands wandered further, over Sephiroth´s hard, muscular stomach, getting a little payback by teasing his navel, because Sephiroth was ticklish there. (No one besides Yazoo knew that though.) Further down they went until they were stopped by a stubborn waistband but not for long anyway. If Yazoo wanted something, he most likely got it and Sephiroth was the last to complain.

Instead of unbuttoning the pants right away, Yazoo took his sweet time, pressing his palm flat against the obvious erection, rubbing it in slow circles. Sephiroth let him for a bit, moving up his pelvis, holding his brother tight that their chests touched while he licked his way down Yazoo´s throat. It was a slow, exploring game and they tasted every touch, every swirl of the tongue, every last bit of skin and flesh to the fullest. Giving pleasure, receiving pleasure.

Eventually Sephiroth took Yazoo´s earlobe between his teeth, gently gnawing and biting at it. Before, when they had been clumsy and inexperienced, there had been a lot of communication, necessarily. It usually went along the lines of something like "Ehr, no, not there... could you shift a bit, you´re poking me... more to the left... what´s that?... oh sorry!... Yeah,_ there_..." Nowadays that wasn´t needed anymore, unless they felt vocal. A simple touch was signal enough, they knew their bodies and desires so well by now, their mental connection extended to a physical one as well.

So Yazoo gave up his teasing, slipped from Sephiroth´s lap to kneel before him on the cool, pale kitchen tiles. Sephiroth leaned back into his chair, spreading his legs a bit while he watched Yazoo open his pants, revealing red, hard flesh. The tongue that darted out between his swollen lips was almost of the same color and when it wrapped around the pulsing erection it might have looked as if these two warm organs melted together; moving in sync, pressing closer... A string of glistening saliva coated dark veins running tight underneath thin skin. Yazoo licked his way up and down the shaft, systematic, thorough. Sephiroth tasted of slightly salty snow. He knew that because Yazoo had told him once and he had proven his point by sharing some of Sephiroth´s semen in a kiss after the ejaculation. Yazoo must like the taste what with the way he sucked his brother as if he wanted to eat him. Sephiroth didn´t mind, far from it. When Yazoo kissed the tip of his cock, stroked it with his tongue, suckled at it and finally let it glide into his mouth, Sephiroth´s hand wove into soft silver strands until he reached the back of Yazoo´s skull. There his fingers started a diffuse massage, encouraging and pushing gently. Yazoo had become so good at it...

The noises of the squeaking chair (of course Sephiroth had to chose the one with the loose screw,) wet sucking and Sephiroth´s accelerated breathing, spiced with low moans whenever he hit the back of Yazoo´s throat wafted through the otherwise boring kitchen like a fresh breeze. It drowned out the noises of the humming fridge, a mower roaring through a front garden like an undomesticated animal, the screaming of playing kids...

Sephiroth got lost in that music they involuntarily produced. It only added to his excitement; every slobbering smack, every noisy sigh that also vibrated through his erection, his bones...

Until it became too much.

"I´m close," the older warned, breathlessly.

His vision turned hazy, with little white dots blurring his vision enough to almost make him miss the sight of Yazoo starting to relieve himself as well with quick, sharp strokes. Sephiroth´s brain had turned into a helium balloon, growing bigger and bigger while at the same time, a vacuum had built in his belly, flip flopping around into all directions, sucking in the tension that built in his balls.

Every nerve in his body was singing, everywhere; on his skin, whole armies of ants kept marching, his fingers were pleasantly numb, warm tremors were running up his spine faster and faster until it was a constant stream.

And Sephiroth felt as if he was imploding; as if the vacuum had sucked his whole being in for a split second, before it spit him out again like a dying star. Barely he noticed how his head fell back, his mouth snapped open for breath but only loud gasps burst forth, spiraling to a low moan. He melted off the chair and onto the floor, feeling heavy, happy and elated. Everything was brighter, sharper now, he could feel his skin breathe freely, the hairs in his neck standing up. As Sephiroth´s arms felt strangely empty when he came down from his climax and he could still feel Yazoo underneath his fingertips, he sluggishly pulled him back up into his lap.

There they sat, clinging to each other, finishing the act with another few small kisses to their swollen, saliva and sperm-wet lips, their warm cheeks, whispered affectionate, breathless nothings.

But this wasn´t happening; it wasn´t even a "what if" moment.

It was just a second, a fleeing nonexistent possibility that gleefully danced before Sephiroth´s inner eye before it evaporated.

Then he blinked and the 'be crushed or stay alive' moment rolled over them like a massive, steaming locomotive.

XxXxXxXxX

Zack was waltzing through the sun flooded living room with easy strides, hands forming a megaphone in front of his moving mouth.

"SEPH, DO YOU WANNA START PRACTICING?"

The teenager poked his head around the doorway into the kitchen, searched the room for their gifted guitarist and found him seated between a few dirty pots and dried spaghetti clinging to every possible surface.

Yazoo was there as well, the two of them separated by a chair that apparently had tumbled over, the sound of metal hitting tiles still vibrating through the air.

Zack let his hands sink down, the three of them staring at each other with varying shades of surprise donned to their faces. From Zack´s standpoint, it looked like Sephiroth appeared slightly panicked, Yazoo was shocked and maybe Zack himself looked uncomfortable as if he had walked in on a private moment. Maybe the brothers had had a fight? Would explain the overthrown chair...

There was another moment, namely the infamous 'awkward-moment,' but Zack shrugged it off with a natural ease. Trouble always fled his presence, such a sunny boy he was. With the obligatory scratch of his head, he put a hand on his hip, presenting a sheepish grin.

"Sorry to interrupt you, just wanted to ask if we can start practicing but if you´re busy, we will wait of course."

"I am fine. Let´s go." Sephiroth bent down to set up the chair and when he straightened again, whatever concerns he had had before were just wiped off his face.

"Cool."

The two boys left for the cellar, Zack sharing his new song ideas with great enthusiasm. Angeal and Genesis had found their way inside as well, the latter briefly stopping by the kitchen door when he noticed Yazoo.

"You don´t happen to need some help with that poem assignment of yours. Do you?"

Instead of gratefully jumping Genesis for the boy´s generous offer of sharing his expert knowledge, Yazoo looked as if he just had been threatened and wordlessly fled the room.

Genesis looked after him vanishing upstairs, open-mouthed. Then he shrugged and followed the others into the makeshift rehearsal room.

Tbc?

* * *

**Review replies:**

Soyna: Aw, yeah XD Cloud is a bit overwhelmed;maybe he´s no used to being the center of then with the crazy boys... They were not quite caught, luckily, but they could have! And Genesis so would have thrown a fit -.-

natzilla: You know,when we moved to the westpart of Germany, we came to experienc3 that strange custom first hand! They really eat their spaghettti with ketchup here O.o But luckily I went back to the east part, I luff ma good ol´tomato sauce with little beacon, onion, cream and tons of tomatoes :P Though if it was Seph to serve me his cold spaghetti with ketchup. Not sure if I could resist.

Oztan: They only got almost caught, this time they were lucky! Yeah, litle Kadaj knows exactly how to handle his brothers XD I guess he has to, to survive^^

.1: Thank you! I had much fun writing the fight XD But the poor easter bunny O_oDo you chase it around for the chocolate as well? But that´s some clever tactic youhave there, I will remember^^ I like your Angeal/Yazoo idea very much XD

Psycho Steph: You know... if they were that pretty I´d sit down,lean back and enjoy the show XD Maybe I´d throw a bucket o water at them, so their shirts get all wet... *cough*I don´t think Cloud wants to eat there either XD He might be traumatized for good. And yes, Yazooand Seph have to work something out, fast!

**What do you think? Do you still want to read more about this? Otherwise I´ll just finish it next chapter, because I really have very little time right now and am in the process of assessing which stories to keep... Thank you!**

Anne Voda Hijme: If Sephiroth sat across from me I guess I could pretend anything. Or at least tryy XD I think Cloud didn´t reallyget what was going on, Kadaj cleverly took advantage of him XD


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello dear readers! I am sorry that it took me so long to update this story; as I had mentioned last chapter this was supposed to be the last one but it was just impossible to bring the story to a satisfying end like this. Hence there will be a few more chapters, also because I came to really like it... I hope you do too and continue to read and criticise^^**

**I wish you all a wonderful christmas and a happy new year!**

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

Home sweet home

*Chapter 13*

"_That´s wrong." Sephiroth accusingly folded his little arms and gave Loz´ picture a critical jade-eyed look. "The sun´s not green."_

_They were seated around the kitchen table that was littered with crayons and white papers. The light wood was scratched and adorned with blotches and stripes in blue, green, red, orange and an occasional pink swipe. Little flakes of wood were scattered over the mess because Yazoo had found an especially delightful experience in sharpening their colored pencils for minutes and minutes. When every last single pencil was sharp enough to pierce little holes into the delicate paper, he had started all over again, soft lips pressed together in concentration. At one point, Sephiroth had mercifully taken the pencil sharpener from his little brother´s smeared fingers and introduced Yazoo to wax crayons, lest he sharpened all their pencils into nothingness. Loz had trouble holding the stumps of what was left of their tools already._

"_It´s not my fault!" the second oldest huffed, holding up a little yellow stick. "Yazoo broke it, there´s nothing left to color with!"_

"_Dun cry Loz," Yazoo mumbled in a little sings__o__ng voice, looking up from his own masterpiece of abstract art. Then he reached over the table and graciously grabbed one of his wax crayons, thrusting his tiny fist into Loz´ direction. "You can has mine."_

"_I´m not crying!" Loz glared, hard, and then folded his smeared arms before his chest, looking down at the offered item with a bit of a derisive air. "And that´s not yellow, that´s purple." With a triumphant look at the oldest__,__ he adde__d i__mportantly, "There´s no purple suns."_

_Yazoo narrowed his eyes ever so slightly in defiance and then turned his attention to his oldest brother as well, demanding some support. "Is too," he stated matter of factly and then pointed at his own painting where he had expertly sloshed a giant purple sphere-ish monstrosity into one corner._

_Sephiroth knelt on his chair, palms on the table, and looked into their tight little faces with growing terror. Suddenly he wished he hadn´t said anything about green suns. It was tough being the oldest sometimes. Admittedly there were no purple suns. Nor were there green suns, but he didn´t want for Loz to start crying, and Yazoo... well, Yazoo had declared that he was going to draw Sephiroth his bestest picture ever and he had put a lot of effort into it (even if the sun was apparently purple,) so the elder couldn´t crush his affections with a thoughtless comment about the impossibility of purple suns! If only it hadn´t been raining today, they could have played outside and this issue would never have arisen..._

_They were still expectantly staring at him._

_Sephiroth took a deep breath and knitted his slender brows. Maybe he could trick them and distract them with another game-_

_Luckily he didn´t have to come up with anything because at this very moment, their dad came to the rescue._

"_How´s it going?" Vincent asked with a smile as he entered the occupied kitchen. His hands were buried deep within the pockets of his dark cotton pants he always wore at home. Sephiroth thought that his __d__ad looked very cool in that old T-shirt of his, the one with the scary skull on it. The shirt had been washed so often that the image had faded and wasn´t really visible anymor__e b__ut the boys __loved the smell of it (motor oil from his bike and gunpowder) and the danger and adventures exuding from it. Besides, Vincent had __pulled__ a bandana around his head to keep the wild mess of long raven hair out of his face and that made him look even cooler. Sephiroth wanted to be exactly like that when he´d grown up!_

"_Daaaaad!" Loz immediately slipped from his chair and came running towards the man with his picture in hand flying behind him. Vincent crouched down __and__ let himself be attacked as Loz threw himself at his muscular chest, buried his wet face in the man´s shirt and voiced his misery through sobs._

"_Seph says the-there´s no green suuuns!"_

"_Because there aren´t." Sephiroth was pretty confident about that and lifted his chin, before he got up to help Yazoo out of his chair. The four year old´s legs were too short and dangled in the air as he clung helplessly to the backrest, half lying on the chair on his bell__y b__ut the elder helped him down, took him by the hand and walked past scribbled papers on the floor towards Vincent._

"_But dere´s purple suns," Yazoo pointed out with a small nod, apparently quite satisfied with his observation._

"_Of course." Vincent nodded and gently rubbed Loz´ back, his son´s sobs slowly subsiding. "When you paint pictures__,__ the sun can __be__ any color you want."_

"_Really?" Loz looked up at his father, hope painted all over his red, swollen face and the grip with which he held Vincent´s shirt in his curled fingers relaxed a bit._

"_Really."_

_That caused the second oldest to look over his shoulder and triumphantly stick out his tongue at Sephiroth, who was above any retort and pretended to be busy with cleaning off a purple smudge from Yazoo´s forehead. The gods knew how it had gotten there._

"_Now, let´s be friends again, hm? Your mom and I have something important to tell you."_

_Vincent got up, straightened Loz´crunched up shirt and noticed with a small smile how the two boys shrugged at each other, just to look back at him curiously the next moment. Yazoo was still busy wiping over the red, raw skin of his forehead and get the spit away that stung there._

"_Let´s go to the living room."_

_The party moved and went to aforementioned place where Lucrecia was heavily seated on the couch, welcoming them with a warm smile. Yazoo let go of Sephiroth´s hand and climbed up beside her to lean his head against her belly and she put a hand on his shoulder lightly. Loz claimed the empty seat to her left but Sephiroth didn´t mind because he sat down beside Yazoo and demandingly pulled the boy away from their mom. To his parents, it might have looked as if their oldest was considerate of Lucrecia´s state and wanted to relieve her from Yazoo´s tight hug but inwardly, Sephiroth gave way to a feeling of hot jealousy that he didn´t feel good about but couldn´t change either._

_Vincent had fallen down into his favorite chair and started the announcement. _

"_As you might have noticed__,__M__om´s belly has grown recently, hasn´t it?"_

_The boys nodded and Yazoo piped up thoughtlessly, letting himself be fondled by his eldest brother with never ending patience, "Missus Hewley says mom's fat!"_

_For just a second, Lucrecia´s smile froze but then she solemnly stroked over the big ball that stretched underneath her red pullover. "Does she now..."_

_Vincent gave a restrained cough, threw his wife a look that was to placate the tense aura suddenly wafting around her and continued. "Well, as Loz and Sephiroth might remember, this has happened before and mom´s belly grew because there was a little baby in there."_

_Sephiroth nodded again with almost bored routine. In fact. he couldn´t really remember because he had been too small when Loz and Yazoo had been born but he was the oldest and had to maintain some attitude even though he secretly was amazed and stole a glance at Mom´s belly. A baby... how wondrous!_

_Yazoo struggled in Sephiroth´s tight embrace so that he could crane his head and have a good look but he couldn´t see the baby at all. He wondered why it was hiding in there and wouldn´t come out so that Yazoo could show it his awesome purple sun..._

_Loz´ eyes went round at the revelation and the look he threw the ominous appendage was a little more wary. Then the practical side of him overtook and he frowned. "How did it get in there?"_

_Oh, how Vincent had dreaded that question but he was prepared and with a restrained clearing of his throat, he 'explained', "Well, when people marry, they have babies. But what´s more important is that in a few days, grandpa Grim will come and you will stay at his house for a couple days until the baby is delivered," and of course, he had prepared a distraction tactic as well, hail him!_

_As he had assumed, the boys instantly lightened up, Loz jumping on the couch in delight. _

"_Yay, grandpa Grim!"_

_Vincent´s smile was only marginally bittersweet when he watched their enthusiasm about his father. Grimoire Valentine had been an awful parent to Vincent. Intentionally or not, he had let his son know with everything he did that his work always had priority to his son and his expectations for Vincent had been crushing. In hindsight, it was no wonder that Vincent had become defiant, joining dubious biker gangs and spending his nights and days in bars at the tender age of 13. When he had enlightened his father three years later that he had impregnated his girlfriend, a cool look of disappointment was all the support he had gotten. Grimoire had demanded that the baby be aborted, that Vincent left the girl and 'get a grip,' but Vincent had not yielded, had announced that he and Lucrecia would have that child come what may and that they would have it even without Grimoire´s financial support. Maybe that had been the first time Vincent had actually gotten through to him because his father had thrown him a strange look and the next day, he had offered his help to the both of them. Vincent had suspected that his father believed (maybe hoped) that they would break up sooner or later anyways. _

_But they didn´t. _

_They had Loz and Yazoo as well and both of them finished school and gotten jobs to be at least partly independent from Vincent´s father, though the man had turned out to be a surprisingly good grandfather. All that Vincent had wished him to be as a father, he showed in his qualities as a grandparent. Grimoire was utterly taken by the boys and treated them with interest, love and time. On the one hand, that was a surprising but pleasant development but on the other hand, it hurt to see what the man was capable of and what he had denied Vincent all his life, for whatever reason. With the boys, their relationship had changed a bit too, wasn´t as frosty anymore and Grimoire tried to keep his tongue in check and refrain from giving his caustic advice on their upbringing._

_In any case, Vincent´s father offered money (of which he had more than enough) and took the boys whenever they needed him to._

_And the boys adored him._

"_I wanna go to the zoo with grandpa Grim!" Loz just yelled and did a happy dance with both his forefingers sticking up into the air._

"_And watch leeches under the microscope!" Sephiroth added with morbid fascination._

"_Toilet," Yazoo muttered and slipped from his older brother´s grip to patter out of the room and away from his joyous family. _

_Contrary to their delight, he didn´t feel so good. Clutching his belly with one hand, he crawled up the stairs and paddled to their bathroom, where he found his favorite plushy Gunter the Chicken. Yazoo pressed it to his chest tightly and then slumped onto the cold tiles near a pile of blue towels, chewing at Gunter´s soft crest._

_This was how Sephiroth found him a few minutes later when he came looking for his little brother; pale and drooling all over Gunter._

_The boy frowned and crouched down before Yazoo, who only acknowledged his presence with a brief look before he stared back at the towel littered floor._

"_What´s wrong? Aren´t you feeling well?" Sephiroth asked, softly, brushing a strand of hair out of Yazoo´s small face and then attempting to take away the plushy so they could tal__k b__ut Yazoo wouldn´t let go and so the elder gave up._

_At least Yazoo lifted his gaze up to him, almost shyly and then slowly shook his head. He wouldn´t take Gunter out of his mouth though._

"_Hm... Shall I call Dad?"_

_At that, Yazoo seemed utterly terrified and shook his head violently, almost ripping off Gunter´s crest. _

"_A'right!" Sephiroth put his hands on tiny shoulders to stop the vehement protest. Then he leaned over conspiratori__al__ly, after he had made sure with a glance at the door that they were alone and muttered into Yazoo´s ear, "It´s okay, I know. Babies sound scary an' they always cry and get all the attention but they´re not __**that**__ bad..."_

_Finally Yazoo took the plushy out of his mouth and instead drew his arms around Sephiroth´s neck. His wet lips brushed against his older brother´s ear when he whispered back, trembling, "We married, righ'?"_

"_Of course." The elder put the younger into his lap and soothingly stroked over Yazoo´s head, hoping that it´d make the prospect of getting a brother or a sister less frightening to hi__m a__nd Yazoo did snuggle closer, burying his face into Sephiroth´s neck. __The eldest__ sighe__d b__ut only a few moments __later__,__ he felt a warm wetness moistening his skin and hair as finally Yazoo started to bawl._

"_I dun wa-anna get a bi-big bellyyyy!" he sobbed, almost inaudibly and clung to his older brother in despair._

_Sephiroth froze with a shadow of dread settling on his young face. _

_He hadn´t thought about that at all! Oh dear, what if they were going to have a baby now too? Vincent said that it happened when people got married, Sephiroth could clearly remember! But Yazoo was so tiny and fragile himself, how was he supposed to have a baby in his small belly? And how were they supposed to take care of it? Well, Sephiroth had grown a lot lately and he had even lost his milk teeth already so he was almost an adult but Yazoo was still small. Of course Sephiroth would take care of the both of them, Yazoo and their baby but he had to admit that he was a bit afraid of the responsibility. Nevertheless, he tenderly rubbed Yazoo´s back and then grabbed his chin to make the boy look at him. With the edge of his sleeve, the elder brushed away big crystal tears from the corners of Yazoo´s glistening eyes and then reached over to rip some toilet paper off and press it to a red button nose._

"_Blow."_

_Yazoo took a deep breath, then squeezed his eyes shut and gave it his best shot, trembling with effort, hands pressed into little fists. The light flap of a butterfly might have been close to what Sephiroth felt under his fingertips when his brother snorted. He threw the tissue into the toilet and flushed it down before he went back to console his 'husband'._

"_You don´t need to worry, I´ll take care of it. I´ll talk to Dad."_

_Yazoo sniffled, intrigued by the conviction and confidence with which Sephiroth spoke. They could get through everything, even babies, there was absolutely no doubt about it. They just had to be together._

In the end, no baby had come. Sephiroth remembered the house had been gloomy and Mom and Dad hadn´t smiled for a while. Vincent had explained to them that the baby was in heaven now and careful inquiries had revealed that only men and women could get babies together, which was a great relief. By the time Kadaj had joined them, the fear of accidentally impregnating Yazoo hadn´t been an issue any longer...

"Hey, are you listening?"

Sephiroth blinked and the world came back into focus, mainly consisting of Zack´s waving hand in front his face.

Ah. Right. He had to focus on playing. The guitar hung heavily from his shoulders, the strings brimming with electricity under his fingertips. Angeal sat ready behind the drums, swirling his sticks. Genesis was clutching the mic, brows knitted in concentration. He probably had finished his lyrics and was going through them in his head. Even when he didn´t actually do anything, like now, just standing there, he always commanded a great air of drama around him...

"I am listening."

Zack didn´t look very convinced, his bass guitar resting in his nervous hands. Then a knowing smile stretched across his open face, barely suppressed exuberance radiating from him in stifling waves.

"Aaaaaaaaaah," he sang all of a sudden, pointing his finger at Sephiroth and almost impaling the other teen´s nose with it. "You got girlfriend trouble!" he gave a little excited jump, his hormones obviously running wild.

The 'WTF' expression on Sephiroth´s face was priceless. Or at least Zack Fair thought so, as he spun around, drawing his arms up, his guitar flying dangerously close to Genesis and his mic, the latter just gracefully side-stepping the attack.

"Haha! I knew it! Who is she? Why didn´t you introduce her to us yet?" His finger came dangerously close to Sephiroth´s scowling face again, this time waving accusingly. Behind his drums, Angeal gave a sigh and let his wooden sticks sink down against the floor tom.

"Because there is no girlfriend to introduce." Waspishly, Sephiroth gripped the fingerboard of his guitar harder, knuckles turning pale. "Now, can we get this over with?"

Zack frowned, opening his mouth to protest, but Angeal´s deep, slightly warning voice held him back. "Drop it, puppy."

With a stubborn shuffle of his feet over the worn carpet, Zack sighed but when Genesis cleared his throat importantly, signaling that he was ready as well, the puppy just gave up and listlessly shrugged.

They were such a bunch of unfun guys sometimes.

tbc

* * *

**Review replies:**

natzilla: You poor thing! You know I am totally lazy when it comes to cooking, but I am not THAT lazy -.- It´s really just disgusting... Hm, you´ll get real time smut soon enough ;) I wonder about the pairings as well... I will go with the flow I guess^^

Psycho Steph: Yeah, I think you´re right, Seph has no idea what to do, but he can´t leave the situation as it is either... We´ll see if he finds a solution ^^

Soyna: Yesh, there needs to be some tension, otherwise it´d be boring XD I wanna lick Sephiroth to confirm if he is tasty indeed, but I doubt that he´d löet me :(

Only Me: Thank you very much! I am glad that you feel that the childhood chapter was the justification for their relationship, because that was what I had wanted to bring across... Incest is very difficult to 'justify' as it is simply taboo, but I wanted to show that there´s something deeper going on, that they are not just fooling around and being insolent. So, really thank you and I will continue this for a bit longer^^

Kokoro Phantomhive: Haha, thank you! I hope to make it worth your while ;) Ah yes, you usually wouldn´t expect to walk in on two brothers so Zack brushes the awkwardness... for now ;)

smverduzco: Haha, you think Yazoo does fall in love with Genesis? Interesting thought... We´ll see about that ;

aubrieta: Aw, thank you! Yeah, don´t ever try the spaghetti with ketchup, they taste as awful as they sound-.- I am glad you liked the descriptions, I really try to get better with them in this fic XD *huggles*

RedHerring1412: Hey! Thank you for your stunning imput, I had a lot of fun imagining your suggestions and visualising them! A very interesting concept you have there! Sadly I already had a background for everyone :( It will slowly be revealed in the coming chapters, but you could already see part of it here. I admit that Vincent and Lucrecia were very young indeed when they got their kids, but with Grimoirs financial support (he´s dirty rich) they managed just fine. And while I really love angst and drama this story is a bit more light hearted ;) Of course there is the drama surrounding the incest but I think that makes it even more difficult for the two to keep their relationship. They care about their family and don´t want to hurt anyone; there´s no drama but the one Sephiroth and Yazoo create and that makes all of the responsibility for it lay with them... which is a very burden to bear for a 14 and a 16 year oldk, I guess. But thank you so much for your input and please keep throwing it at me whenever you like XD

Anne Voda Hijme: Thanks! I think too that Genesis is very bright and he thinks beyond conventions so maybe he´ll be the first one to figure out indeed... if there still is something to figure out after all XD

Afuri: Heyy! Thank you for all your wonderful reviews, I am so happy you enjoyed it! There will still be a bit more, I just can´tlet go of this fic yet ;)

**Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing! Please don´t forget to leave a little comment on your way out, it´s christmas time and those are like little gifts to me XDD**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry for the long wait, I was awfully busy and since this fic doesn't seem very popular it was of lesser priority to me... Anyway, here's the chapter, enjoy please^^**

* * *

Dinner was not a pleasant affair tonight.

It was stiff, mute and tension packed. Unlike other nights it didn´t do anything to relieve Vincent´s stress but only added to it. Partly it was his own fault, he knew that. Lucrecia had cooked a delicious meal, arranged it lovingly on the table, even added a few candles that flickered nervously in the thin air.

The family-feeling just wouldn´t come up. All day Vincent had been thinking, the scene when he had surprised his sons playing in his mind over and over again, distracting him from work. Now he couldn´t stop watching their every move, interpreting unhealthy motives into everything they did. They didn´t even do much. In fact, they did spectacularly well at avoiding to look at each other, talk to each other – they just sat there, stiff as pillars of salt and listlessly chewed down their dinner, probably hoping to be released soon. Kadaj was shuffling his feet and yawned every now and again, whereas Loz gobbled down his meal as if he couldn´t wait to get away. Earlier on Lucrecia had tried to engage them into a conversation but she had only gotten monosyllabic replies and, discouraged, she had stopped and concentrated on cutting her potatoes into microscopic pieces.

There was no talk about annoying teachers, new friends, finished songs or technical problems with a new piece of machinery.

Vincent sighed.

"Go and get ready for bed. I will cover the dishes tonight."

It seemed that they had only waited for his sign as instantly four chairs screeched backwards over the tiles and within a few seconds his children were heading upstairs.

Lucrecia put her cutlery down, then stood and began to wordlessly toss the remnants of their dinner into the garbage.

"I am sorry," he offered, getting up as well and turning to the sink, filling it with warm water and detergent that smelled of artificial lemon.

"I looked at old photographs today. You know, when the boys were younger." There was no need to emphasize that she was referring to Yazoo and Sephiroth exclusively. They´d been married for over 15 years now. They had grown up together, and their souls were intertwined like the branches of two trees curling around each other.

"What did you find?"

"I don´t know... I am not sure. Maybe I let the recent events affect my judgment too much, but I think there´s something... special about them."

"That´s a nice way to put it," Vincent snorted, but when her sharp gaze pierced him the fine lines on his forehead smoothed and he let the dishes slip into the foamy water.

"I´m just saying... They were always close. All of them are, Kadaj and Loz too, they take care of each other, they love each other. But it´s not like that... What if they really are different, I thought to myself." Lucrecia had stopped, the plate hanging askew from her hand over the garbage as she stared into the dark garden pensively. Vincent kept quiet, giving her time to voice her thoughts.

"Maybe it´s in the genes," she suddenly laughed, a bit too shrill and nervous. "I mean, our relationship isn´t exactly conventional either." Her shoulders lifted in a helpless shrug. "When I look at it now it feels inevitable, linear. As if it was bound to happen, maybe... I really don´t know. But I feel that if it wasn´t a singular incident, if there is more going on than we noticed it might be even worse to force them... to stop it." She looked back at her husband, uncertain. "They are not hurting anyone with what they do, are they?"

Vincent had feared that kind of conversation. The foreboding feeling he had had and that he had pushed away roughly was catching up with him now. He had refused to think about it that way, because his sense of rightness had told him that what his sons had done was wrong. But Lucrecia was more sensitive when it came to emotions, the subtle things between people, their chemistry. He trusted her judgment. And if he was honest he´d always known that something was off; walking in on them had shifted something inside him, as if his vision had been slightly doubled before but was perfectly sharp and whole now. That didn´t mean that he was all right with the fact that his oldest son was fucking his brother. Far from it. There was no way anyone could comprehend how he was feeling right now; Vincent was blaming himself for failing as a father. In the face of this atrocity he was helpless and he had absolutely no idea what to do about it. There was just no script or manual that helped him dealing with this situation. He felt as if he was swimming in the ocean, not knowing where the next shore was. In the blink of an eye his sons had become strangers to him, everything he thought he knew about them was wiped from his brain and when he looked at them now he could see nothing but that scene in Sephiroth´s bedroom.

"They´re hurting us," Vincent finally replied, eyes downcast, his hands resting in the cooling water where a thin layer of muddy substance painted surreal spirals between little mountains of deflating foam. "They are hurting me." And he didn´t even want to think about the possibility that maybe, whatever they had done was not consensual.

"I know." The light weight of his wife´s hand on his shoulder wasn´t enough to push the burden off from there, but maybe part of it crumbled. "I think they are hurting too."

Vincent stared at a lazy swirl and then destroyed it by grabbing a plate and curtly cleaning it with a scrubber.

"Maybe we should talk to them again." Lucrecia suggested softly. In her opinion the boys´attempts to avoid any contact with each other said more than anything. Contrary to her husband she was confident that she still knew them pretty well; they were responsible and those were the consequences they had drawn. She could also tell that they were less than happy with this solution.

"Not all problems can be talked away," Vincent snapped waspishly, but regretted it the moment he said it. His wife wasn´t to blame. Lucrecia bit her lips.

Vincent put the last plate out of the dirty water and turned towards her, kissing her on the forehead. "I will go and talk to them. Maybe it´s just like Reeve said and we are worrying about nothing."

* * *

The door was closed again.

Shut tightly and towering at the end of the corridor, locking a storm of secrets and tension inside.

Yazoo didn´t care; the situation was too out of control to be intimidating anymore. If they didn´t talk now, if he didn´t take initiative the silence between them would grow bigger and fatter, becoming a monster of epic proportions they might not be able to slash down.

As Yazoo poked his head inside, without knocking, Sephiroth looked up in surprise. He sat on the bed, cross-legged, one of his notebooks opened before him. The page was empty, pen resting on the virginal paper. Obviously writer´s block was striking, or else Seph wouldn´t even have heard him enter. Once an idea caught him, Sephiroth could be writing notes for hours on end without hearing or seeing anything else around him but that brilliant riff or melody that was ringing only in his own ears until it found its way onto paper.

Out of the boxes placed beside the bed, some metal singer was roaring in that raspy voice of theirs.

Sephiroth was still wordlessly staring with a slightly accusing expression, as if Yazoo had just walked in on him masturbating.,,, which was probably not the best metaphor, as he really wouldn´t have minded that. But maybe as if Yazoo had disturbed a private moment. Sephiroth was guarded, wary.

„I´m not the enemy," Yazoo said, slightly waspishly. He sure felt treated like one and it hurt. So he had to say it to reassure himself that he wasn´t. Maybe, if he was lucky, Sephiroth would be kind enough to confirm it as well. Pushing those partly sardonic, partly very real fears away, Yazoo waited for an answer.

The monster between them steered with an unwilling grunt.

Dark pupils constricted for a split second before they turned back to a perfect circle and the elder´s tense shoulders slumped in defeat.

„I know." Sephiroth grabbed the remote and turned the music down. „Close the door and come here."

Yazoo felt his windpipe constricting and almost choked a breath, but turned quickly to close the door. Whatever talk they were going to have would probably (hopefully) make things better. He wasn´t good with stuff like that, communicating feelings in general and crisis management in particular (it was easiest to just reboot an erroneous program but sadly not an option here), and there was no wikipedia entry for this kind of situations he could have relied on. This was completely new territory and Yazoo wasn´t very eager to explore it, but there was no turning back now.

Blank faced he sat down on the very edge of the bed, but to his surprise he was gripped and pulled into Sephiroth´s lap. „'Here' is not there;" he was informed with a lifted brow.

Great, mixed signals weren´t Yazoo's strong point either. Leaning his head against his brother´s shoulder, Yazoo sighed. "Hm."

The dulled music wafted languidly through the mostly dark room as they sat there on the bed, unmoving. At least the physical distance had been overcome.

"Now what?"

Sephiroth shrugged, leaning back against the wall. His clear green eyes were directed at the half opened window but he wasn´t really looking.

"Things changed. You are aware of that?" It was actually a very legitimate question; Yazoo was amazingly dull sometimes when it came to things that involved subtle (or not so subtle) interaction between people. The problem could be as heavy and immediate as a sledgehammer and hit him right in the face and the boy still managed to be oblivious. Which had some people conclude that he was uncaring, arrogant and jaded, but Sephiroth knew better.

"Hm." Yazoo dropped his lids pensively, shifting a bit on Sephiroth´s lab. A dark shadow flickered over his pale features briefly. "It´s so troublesome," he observed, leaning his head against his brother´s shoulder.

Sephiroth inwardly sighed, a bit bitter. Well, he hadn´t expected any other reaction, not really. If he was honest, it was his own fault too. Ever since he could think Sephiroth had been the big brother; he had taken it upon himself to shield his brothers, which was something he found was his duty and he loved it. Arguably he had exaggerated a bit when it came to Yazoo.

Over the last years he had made sure that nothing unpleasant would come even close to his brother and it was no wonder that Yazoo took it for granted that Sephiroth would continue to do so. He didn´t know any better.

But they had come to a point where it was mandatory for Yazoo to grow up, where Sephiroth had to force him to, lest it end in a catastrophe. Sephiroth just couldn´t make the problem go away, even if he wanted to. On the other hand it had also been a wake up call; if they wanted to stay close then things had to change. Yazoo had to learn to be responsible, face problems and deal with them. This particular one would not just go away, like Sephiroth had hoped; the plan had been to keep a low profile till things had calmed down again and then proceed as usual, but that was too dangerous and too much was at risk. It wouldn't be that easy, not if they didn't want their family to cause grief. Their parents were even more attentive now and should they get surprised again that would be the end of it.

Yazoo shifted again, somewhat confused. They were straying from the usual routine and Yazoo seemed to notice too.

"... What do you plan on doing about it?" he finally asked slowly, looking up at the older boy. Normally it would have been Sephiroth´s turn to say that it was all right and that he´d take care of it, but maybe due to the circumstances he had just forgotten, Yazoo thought.

"We will have to figure something out."

Yazoo stirred, his expression turning blank. "...We?" he asked tentatively, because he wasn't sure if he had just misheard.

"Yes. You and I sums up to We." Sephiroth tilted his head wryly as he looked down at his brother to he how he would react. Yazoo's brain seemed busy processing the information, because it took him a while to finally spit out an answer. "Okay."

It only sounded slightly patronizing, as if Sephiroth was throwing a fit of temporary insanity that would be over in a minute.

The elder was not impressed, but stretched his leg, wrinkling the blanket underneath them. "So, any suggestions?" he asked mercilessly, adopting a casual tone with a light cruel edge.

Yazoo sat stock still. "No." Maybe this had just been a rhetorical question. He couldn't really be supposed to answer that. How would he know what to do? Sephiroth took care of such things.

"Too bad. Me either." Sephiroth reached over to the messy nightstand of his bed and managed to pull out a half broken pencil. The pen he had intended to use prior to Yazoo's entrance had slipped somewhere in between the sheets and he was too lazy to search it now. Unperturbed he grabbed his notebook and started to scribble down a few lines and notes.

Yazoo still sat comfortably in Sephiroth's lap, feeling his brother's free hand supporting his weight at his back. He watched Sephiroth write in the dimming light until finally the corners of his mouth twitched up into an artificial smile.

"You are being funny." Not that Yazoo thought that this was particularly funny but he was relieved to have identified this situation correctly as a joke cracked by his brother. So he thought it was his job to laugh now, or something like that. Smiling was probably enough.

Sephiroth stopped writing and looked back at his brother, not smiling or laughing at all. That was unexpected.

"Am I? I wouldn't know what's funny about not being able to figure out a way to convince your legal guardians that you are not having an incestuous relationship with your brother while fucking him behind their backs. Explain it to me."

"Didn't you just say that I am not the enemy?" Yazoo retorted slightly exasperatedly. Sephiroth could be so bitchy sometimes!

"Yes, but right now you are doing well at failing as an alley too." Sephiroth immersed himself back into the song that was slowly forming in his head, drawing a little dot with an upward line on the third stave.

Before Yazoo could answer a knock sounded from the door. Judging by the force of it that could only be their father. Their mom's knocks were far gentler and lighter.

The boys looked alarmed and Yazoo quickly got to his feet to sit at the chair by Sephiroth's desk. He had to push some shirts and socks onto the floor first.

Sephiroth himself straightened, waiting for Yazoo to be seated, then he gave him a warning look that said 'I'm doing the talking' and invited, "Come in." Yazoo had to suppress a smug smirk, because now things were back to the way they were supposed to be. It did feel a bit accomplishing.

Vincent opened the door and poked his head in, attempting to say something, but when he spotted Yazoo he settled for awkward silence.

His gaze flickered back to Sephiroth, clearly suspicious.

"We were just talking."

Vincent paused, suppressing the urge to grab one of them and drag him out of the room to get some physical distance between them. "Good," he finally said, coming in and closing the door behind him. "I need to talk to you too. The both of you."

"I thought we were done with that already," Sephiroth replied, unnerved, tapping his pen against the notebook with a bit too much force.

"I am not here to make any accusations." Vincent looked around the room to find a place to sit but when there was none he went for the bed, giving Sephiroth a sign to move, and doubtful, the boy did. The mattress creaked as their father sat down.

Uncomfortable silence settled heavily around them.

"Your mother is worried."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. So much for no accusations.

"We said we were sorry. We still are. It won't happen again."

"Of course it won't!" Vincent barked, but then cleared his throat, forcing himself to calm down. "Anyway, I thought we should talk about what happened that night. I know you talked about it with Reeve already, but I want to understand it too."

The two of them shared a quick look. Yazoo remained silent because he had been told so and he didn't have to contribute anything productive anyways. He wished he could be in his own room, finishing that virus he was programming.

"What do you want to know?" Sephiroth asked slowly, giving his father a side-long glance. He didn't want to tell him any technical details of what they had been doing.

That would be creepy and sick.

„I want to know why you did it. I want to understand it." Or at least try. And he didn't _want_ it _per se_, but he had to. Vincent tried to ignore the feeling of alienation that threatened to overcome him when he looked at them. He felt strangely detached, sitting in this room with two human beings that somehow were his sons. There was also the ugly feeling of betrayal creeping into his heart on sticky legs. At least Vincent was making an effort here, swallowing all accusations for the sake of his wife and the rest of his family. Even for their sake; they were still his children. He would listen, and it was high time, apparently.

"We already told that shrink friend of yours," Sephiroth pointed out,trying to buy some time. It was admirable that their father was trying so hard, but in this case it wasn't really appreciated. Not until they had found a way to figure this out themselves.

"Then tell it again. To me." Vincent's voice was tight with impatience and authority. He was a pretty hands-on parent, though recently with the boys hitting puberty their relationship had suffered. Besides he was very busy with work at the moment and had practically zero tolerance for their antics.

"Did you give us the cards for the play deliberately to have us out of the house?"

"No, of course not."

Vincent felt some of his worries evaporate and he relaxed a bit. If they hadn't planned it it made them less calculative, less manipulative. And the action could have been spontaneous. It most likely had been. That diminished the potential for a parallel life going on behind his back significantly.

"What compelled you to do this -" Vincent stopped, gritting his teeth and keeping himself in check to not judge their actions by using offensive vocabulary. It would only drive them back into their shells and nothing would be gained. "This," he finished.

The creaking of the desk chair was drawing his attention to Yazoo about whom he had almost forgotten. The boy had that ability to elegantly fade into the background and get out of the line of fire, but this was about him too and Vincent wouldn't allow him to escape this confrontation.

"Yazoo?" he demanded, ignoring Sephiroth for now, who opened his mouth to speak and draw his father's attention back to himself, but Vincent held his hand up sharply, silencing him in advance.

The younger boy's eyes briefly flickered over to his brother but then they drifted reluctantly to Vincent. "We were just fooling around... I guess." He lifted a bony shoulder in a shrug.

"I see. And how did you get the idea of 'fooling around'?" Vincent pressed, holding Yazoo's eyes captive until the boy looked down at his hands almost petulantly. He was marginally swinging on the chair, left and right, left and right. His feet brushed over a bunch of clothes littering the floor.

"We had sex education the other day and they were talking about homo stuff. It was a stupid idea."

Vincent noticed a movement in the corner of his eyes and turned his head to see Sephiroth bury his face in his hands in a gesture of... embarrassment.

All of a sudden Vincent came to realize that their behavior was not devious, rebellious or conspiratorial. Not at all. The intentions of their actions had not been to make him or the rest of their family miserable; there was no greater, evil scheme here.

They simply had done something extremely stupid without thinking and they had had the misfortune of being caught in the middle of it. It seemed to Vincent that they wanted nothing more than to forget about that deeply agonizing moment of being exposed and their attitude was just a natural reaction to cover their vulnerability. It was only in that very moment of his epiphany that he got a glimpse at how very awkward and insecure they must be feeling, and that he was not making it easier for them by taking that judgmental stance, looking at them from above with disgust, distrust and lack of understanding.

"I see," Vincent finally said, his voice sounding a lot less tense, gentler. His whole rigid posture relaxed, as he sighed and fell back against the wall, rubbing over his eyes slowly. He wondered when he had become a 'parent'. He'd always tried to be at eye-level with his children, to be a friend and someone they could trust. Not someone they had to hide from and fear, whose approval they had to chase. Vincent had vowed to love them the way they were, unconditionally and he was appalled by how easily he had abandoned them in a situation of crisis. Stress at work and them being difficult because of puberty was no excuse at all; Vincent had neglected them horribly.

And it wasn't as if he hadn't made grave mistakes in his youth either, he _certainly_ had (though he hadn't done anything remotely close to...this). They were children after all. And Vincent was here to guide them, to be there and listen to their concerns and their confusion. Yelling at them would not achieve a thing.

"Well... it certainly wasn't one for your brighter ideas." Vincent sighed, letting his hand fall into his lap. It had gotten dark outside and their silhouettes were shrouded in shadows now.

A green eye slowly looked at Vincent through spread fingers and Yazoo stopped his stoic swinging.

"You are not mad anymore?" The boy sounded surprised, careful.

Vincent took a moment to think about that.

"No. I think you learned your lesson. I assume such a thing will not happen again?"

"It won't." Sephiroth did not specify of course that he didn't intend to not have a sexual relationship with his brother anymore but that he didn't intend to get _caught_ again. Technically he wasn't really lying, even though he knew very well that Vincent meant something different than he was referring too.

"Then we are good. If you have questions about... sex please ask your mother or me, before you get hands-on. You can always talk to us, about anything."

Sephiroth nodded, though he severely doubted that they could talk about _everything _with them_. _If they reacted that strongly about something they deemed an unfortunate accident, a one time _mistake _that had occurred because of their teenage stupidity how were they to take the revelation that there was more to it than a curious whim? They would be devastated.

"All right then. Let's leave it at that. Unless you feel the need to talk some more about it...?"

Much to Vincent's relief they both shook their heads. He felt very accomplished; hadn't he proven that Lucrecia's worries were unfounded? This little disruption of their otherwise harmonious family life could be ignored; everything would just turn back to normal.

Things had been worked out.

End of story.

"It is late. You should go to bed now." Vincent got up, stretching out his arm demandingly and Yazoo got up. Vincent guided him to the door. As they left Yazoo and Sephiroth shared one last secret look. They had lulled their parents back into blissful ignorance. Maintaining their family's happiness as well as their own seemed manageable again. From now on they just had to be doubly careful.

This was far from being over.

end~

* * *

**So, this is it^^ Many many thanks to everyone who reviewed and subscribed and read this story, I loved writing it and sharing it with you!**

**Please leave me some of your thoughts on this for the last time? :)**


End file.
